West Ham seek first win against a newcomer in decades
After more than 15 years, West Ham United meet Brentford Football Club again. The last meeting between these two teams was in April 1993. It’s a reunion in England’s top flight with two teams looking to keep scoring after their good start to the season to stay up.
Brentford with coach Thomas Frank have made a furious start to the new season as promoted teams. The Bees have only suffered one defeat. They managed to win against the likes of Arsenal and Wolverhampton Wanderers. They also managed to wrest a point from Liverpool FC.
The Hammers are doing even better, taking eleven points from their first six games. Similar to Brentford, West Ham have only lost once. As one of the contenders to slide into the top six, the Hammers receive Brentford nominally as favourites. The odds on the winner of West Ham vs. Brentford make this clear. Nevertheless, the Frank protégés should not be underestimated.
West Ham – Statistics & current form
The fact that West Ham are listed as clear favourites in this match is not so much due to the fact that the promoted side from west London is trusted, but because of the Hammers’ outstanding home strength. Since the beginning of the year, only Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have collected more points at home than West Ham United. Although they lost their last home game against Manchester United, they have only lost two home games in a row once since David Moyes returned in January 2020, a streak they will be desperate to maintain with a win next Sunday.
Michail Antonio as hopeful
The high ambitions this season are mainly due to two personnel. On the one hand, they were able to keep the much courted youngster, top performer and international Declan Rice at the club in the summer and on the other hand, Michail Antonio shone not only as a goal scorer but also as a provider. With eight scorer points so far, he is currently the Premier League leader He has already scored seven points in games in which he scored or set up goals. He is also at the top of the league in this statistic.
Europa League week bad omen
Whoever wants to look for a reason to speak against West Ham in the upcoming duel will find it in the week after the fourth matchday in mid-September. At that time they also had an English week consisting of Premier League and Europa League. The result was that they managed to win the Europa League game during the week and suffered their only defeat so far the following weekend Granted, it was Manchester United and not Brentford on that occasion. Nevertheless, this can be a pointer for next Sunday, as they also had to cope with the multiple burden of the game against Rapid Wien this week.
The Hammers will do their utmost to win their second league match after a Europa League encounter in order to stay in the top third of the table. Whether coach David Moyes will rotate a lot this time remains to be seen. Last time he made four changes to the starting line-up. It is quite possible that it will be similar for the game against Brentford. The regular central defence of Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna could rotate back in. In addition, Tomas Soucek can be counted on in midfield and Fabianski between the posts.
With West Ham vs. Brentford, the bookmakers’ forecast clearly points to a home win for the in-form Hammers Both individual quality and home strength speak for the East Londoners. Said Benrahma, who has already initiated seven goal-scoring chances for Michail Antonio and thus leads this statistic in the entire league, will again try to create one or the other scoring opportunity for his congenial partner this weekend
Predicted West Ham line-up:
Fabianski – Cresswell, Ogbonna, Zouma, Coufal – Rice, Soucek, Benrahma, Fornals, Vlasic – Antonio
Last matches played by West Ham:
Brentford – Statistics & current form
Brentford travel to West Ham as an unbeaten away team. With one win and two draws, the Bees are looking to continue this streak at the Hammers. This feat has only been achieved by four promoted teams in the history of the Premier League. The last time Hull City were promoted was in the 08/09 season.
Minimalists from Brentford
Aside from last weekend’s spectacular 3-3 draw at home to Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool FC, when they twice came back from behind to eventually snatch a point, the Bees have scored just five goals and conceded two in five games to date. With a goal difference of 8:5 after six matchdays, they have the best defence in the league after Manchester City and Chelsea FC
A similar match plan can be expected for the upcoming game: From a stable and compact defence with quick counterattacks to create scoring chances We like to leave possession of the ball to the opponent. The best example of this is the last away game at Wolves, when they only had 38% possession and still took home all three points at the end of the day
Scoring threat wide
If you are looking for a classic goal scorer in the Bees, you will do so in vain. Unsurprisingly, the current top scorer is Ivan Toney, who has already put his name on the scoreboard twice. In last season’s promotion season, the 25-year-old scored 31 goals and thus secured the goalscoring crown. A real coup to have kept in the summer. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that Thomas Frank’s team boasts the third most goalscorers of any team with seven different goalscorers Again, only Manchester City and Chelsea are ahead of them.
In terms of personnel, the Danish coach has no reason to change anything. The Bees are again expected to play in their usual 3-5-2 formation next Sunday. In midfield, the German Vitaly Janelt, whom national coach Hansi Flick personally observed at close quarters last weekend, will once again be deployed. Janelt left his calling card with a goal to equalise 2:2 against the Reds.
If you want to believe the odds on West Ham vs. Brentford, you will bet on a home win for the Hammers. Brentford’s win over Arsenal to open the season, as well as their 3-3 spectacle against Liverpool last weekend, should be more than a warning.
Predicted Brentford line-up:
Raya – Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock – Canos, Onyeka, Norgaard, Janelt, Henry – Mbeumo, Toney
Last matches played by Brentford:
West Ham – Brentford Direct Comparison / H2H Balance
To get a direct comparison between West Ham and Brentford, you have to dig a floor deeper into Championship history. Brentford’s last win was over 60 years ago The last time the Bees won against the Hammers was in the 53/54 season. They will meet for the very first time in the top flight next Sunday. The last meeting ended with an unchallenged 4-0 win for West Ham in 1993
West Ham – Brentford Tip
This clear statistic in favour of the home team should not have too much significance for the upcoming match. These encounters are already too far in the past. For the duel West Ham vs. Brentford a tip is not particularly easy, because we trust the guests a lot. Predicting the number of goals is also difficult, as both many and few goals are conceivable.
With 13 goals, the Hammers not only have the second-best attack in the league, but also the best scorer in Michail Antonio. The brawny striker has already contributed five goals in five matches. However, apart from the last game, Brentford have been convincing with a well-organised defence. Even West Ham’s recent results have not been goal festivals like they were at the beginning of the season
Despite everything, our tip goes towards a West Ham home win. The Hammers want to continue their run. They also want to end their negative streak against teams they are facing for the first time in the Premier League (previously losing out to Bournemouth, Hull, Reading and Wigan in their first meeting). For this we are betting 6 units.
If you don’t want to back a winner, you could play the betting odds on Under 2.5 goals in the match for West Ham vs Brentford. With odds around 1.90, attractive value is provided here. Due to the home team’s double-header and Brentford’s strength as underdogs, we think a close game with few goal-scoring scenes is realistic.
