Brentford 2-0 West Ham
by Layth Yousif
at the Brentford Community Stadium

THOMAS FRANK’S Brentford all but secured their Premier League status with two second-half goals during an impressive 2-0 win over West Ham on Sunday. 

Bryan Mbeumo’s clinical low finish past Lukasz Fabianski after an intelligent through-ball from Ivan Toney put the Bees 1-0 ahead on 48 minutes. The lively Mbeumo repaid the compliment by setting up Toney to double the lead on 64 minutes and seal an excellent victory. 

An industrious but shapeless opening was mostly punctuated by the crowd booing Irons defender Kurt Zouma’s every touch, following his recent bout of feline cruelty. Complete with a large cheer when he was felled by Bees captain Christian Norgaard, prompting the home support to sing: “That’s how your cat feels.”

The influential Mbeumo tested Irons Fabianski on 20 minutes, prior to the former Swansea keeper being alert to block the same player moments later. 

Zouma capped a miserable day for David Moyes’s side when he limped off shortly afterwards, replaced by Issa Diop on the half hour mark. 

With the busy Bees finding space around the West Ham backline, Mbeumo fired over, while the elegant Christian Eriksen tested Fabianksi with a low shot – before Mbeumo struck 180 seconds into the second half. 

Toney then headed home to seal three points for outstanding Brentford, who can surely start planning for a second successive season in the top flight after more than seven decades away.

The result means West Ham remain in sixth place, six points off Spurs in fourth spot having played two games more.