West Ham beat ambitious Brentford as preseason continues

West Ham continued their preparation for the 2020/21 season with a 2-1 victory, in what was a very competitive match against Brentford.

The London Stadium was on show for the first time since the re-vamp to the lower tier seats behind each goal. West Ham fans, if they had been able to attend, who occupy those seats will be much closer to the actions, then they were before.

Team News

West Ham were without Declan Rice, who was suffering from an ankle injury. The Hammers played a standard back-four with the returning Lukasz Fabianski back between the sticks. Jack Wilshere played alongside Mark Noble in the midfield. The attacking four included the impressive Grady Diangana and Hattrick hero Sebastien Haller.

Moyes had plenty of options on the bench. Felipe Anderson, Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio were ready and waiting for their moments to impress.

Many West Ham fans would have been hoping that David Moyes was scouting some of the Brentford players. The club has been linked with the likes of Rico Henry, Said Benrahma and Ollie Watkins.

Match Report

Brentford had the first chance of the game and almost took the lead inside two minutes. Following a counter-attack, forward Canos was able to cut inside and fire a shot goalbound but hit the outside of the post. Fortunately for the Hammers, the rebound came to fast and was bundled wide.

West Ham reacted well and took an early lead. Andriy Yarmolenko was played through on goal by Pablo Fornals. The Ukrainian made no mistake with the finish and slotted it into the bottom left corner of the Brentford goal.

Despite some shaky moments and some long-range strikes from the Bees. West Ham were in control and was keeping the ball well, and some phases were including twenty-thirty passes at a time. This passing would have pleased manager Moyes.

Brentford did start to get themselves into the match. The Bees were putting the Hammers under some pressure but weren’t able to muster any meaningful attempt on Fabianski’s goal.

That was until the 31st minute. West Ham target, Rico Henry, burst forward into the box and clipped a cross on to the six-yard-box. Marcus Forss headed the cross into the ground, and the bounce of the ball beat Fabianski and into the back on the net.

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Brentford continued to push for a second, but much like before their goal; they just weren’t able to create any clear chances. West Ham would have to improve in the second half if they were to win the friendly match.

In true preseason fashion, a multitude of substitutions was made. Anderson, Bowen, Antonio, Lanzini, Soucek, Arthur Masuaku and Josh Cullen all came on for the second half.

After the restart, both teams were looking for the goal that would put them in the ascendancy. The Hammers, much like Brentford in the first half, were pushing the most but were not able to create any clear cut chances. Brentford went closest, but Fabianski was able to keep them at bay.

Moyes made a further player shuffle on the 58th minute. Academy graduate Ben Johnson came on to replace Ryan Fredericks. Johnson would be up against Henry, who had been very impressive thus far.

West Ham finally created their clear-cut opportunity and made it count. Michial Antonio burst through the Brentford defence and into their box. The forward then instead of shooting, Antonio played a brilliant pass to Soucek. The Czech midfielder controlled the ball and fired the Hammers into the lead.

Moyes was forced into making another change. Antonio pulled up injured and removed from the action, Connor Coventry called upon as his replacement. The midfielder’s inclusion meant the Hammers would be playing without a recognised striker for the final twenty minutes.

Despite not having a striker on the pitch it was the Hammers that went closest to scoring again. Anderson made good progress down the right and cut back a pass to Lanzini. The number-ten hit a dangerous effort towards goal that was matched by the Brentford goalkeeper.

The Hammers came out victorious and continued to show that they will be a very exciting attacking team next season. There are still some concerns about the defence and even more concern surrounding Antonio’s injury.

West Ham will continue their preparations for the 2020/21 season against AFC Bournemouth in the Betway Cup next Saturday.