West Ham gave Tottenham a chance to pull themselves out of the Premier League relegation zone after suffering a heavy 3-0 defeat at Brentford.
Konstantinos Mavropanos’ own goal, Igor Taigo’s penalty and Mikel Damsgaard’s late three goals keep West Ham just two points ahead of Spurs, who are guaranteed to move out of the bottom three with victory at Aston Villa on Sunday.
West Ham hit the woodwork four times, had their equalizer canceled out by VAR and missed 13 shots on an ill-fated day in west London, where a three-game unbeaten run ended and relegation fears were heightened.
Meanwhile, Brentford strengthened their place in Europe with their first win in seven games, moving them into sixth place and three points behind ninth-placed Chelsea ahead of their home game against Nottingham Forest, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from 3pm on Monday.
West Ham suffer a crushing defeat to their London rivals
A breathless first half began with Dango Ouattara’s shot wide within 30 seconds, and West Ham’s Pablo had a shot on goal denied by Caoihin Kelleher.
Mavropanos slotted the ball into his own net in the 15th minute when Michael Kayode hit the right post from a cross from Kean Lewis-Potter. This goal was awarded despite Kayode lunging at Mavropanos and despite the centre-back having to stay back during the celebration.
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Konstantinos Mavropanos’ own goal gave Brentford a 1-0 lead in the Premier League game against West Ham, but was the Greek defender fouled by Michael Kayode?
West Ham responded well, with Tati Castellanos firing a low shot into the woodwork, but Mavropanos appeared to make up for his mistake by heading in El Hadji Malik Diouf’s free-kick, but the goal was ruled out for offside by VAR.
Brentford should have doubled their lead when goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was left outside the area after picking up the ball in behind, allowing Damsgaard to miss the opening goal from the edge of the area.
Thiago’s dink kept Hermansen holding on to the chance, but Castellanos hit the woodwork with his second shot and Jarrod Bowen’s corner hit the left post.
Sepp van den Berg headed wide from Kayode’s long throw, and there was still time for Kelleher to thwart Castellanos’ diagonal long-range piledriver.
Mikel Damsgaard celebrates after scoring Brentford’s third goal against West Ham
The second half was less dramatic after Thiago scored his 22nd Premier League goal of the season. Diouf unnecessarily and recklessly slipped into Ouattara inside the area, and Thiago calmly took the spot-kick as the visitors were unable to react.
West Ham’s afternoon game got even better as Crisencio Somerville’s curling shot hit the crossbar, followed by Tomas Soucek, who hit the post before Damsgaard wrapped up the win with a low shot into the bottom right corner.
Nuno: We have to deal with setbacks
West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo said:
“The first half was really good. We were really positive. We conceded a goal from a cross, but we reacted well, played well and the game flowed. We were in control. We created a lot of situations. At half-time we were confident that the game would change and things would come our way. But overall it was a tough day for us.”
Regarding the penalty, Nuno said: “He (Diouf) should have been avoided, but Ouattara is a very good winger so it’s difficult to protect him.”
“But it’s not about that, it’s about how we didn’t react. The same thing happened before when we were down by two points, but it didn’t happen today.
“Recently, I was able to react quickly when I stumbled during games, but that wasn’t the case today.
“There are a lot of things we have to fix for the next game, but the reaction to setbacks is basically you can’t give up. We’ve proven ourselves that that’s not an option.”
Bowen: Losing hurts – you can’t just dwell on it.
West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen told Sky Sports:
“We have to react in the right way. It will hurt today because we had good chances. But what we have to do now is focus on the next game. We have three games left and every game is a cup final.”
“There’s so much at stake. We can’t let the past few weeks go to waste because of this result today. Any other day we would have won today. We’ve done a lot of good things.”
“It may sound cliché, but we all have to stick together. We have a really good group. It’s up to the senior players to step up. We can’t dwell on this. We have to move forward because there’s no other way.”
Andrews: Victory is near – we are in a good position
Brentford manager Keith Andrews said:
“I feel like it’s coming, but as well, we need to stay at the top of our performance level. I think the big thing today was that we found a way to win. I think that was really important.”
“We had some chaotic moments in the first half. I felt like they created chances, some of which were our own, but we managed the game better in the second half. Overall it was a good day for us.”
“We’re in a good position. Obviously, we’re not in a bad position with six or three games left. We should enjoy it.”
“We should embrace it. Let’s keep pushing for the remaining three games and see where it takes us.”
