West Ham United 0-2 Brentford
Premier League, London Stadium, Monday 20 October 2025, 8pm BST
West Ham United slipped to a 2-0 defeat to Brentford in Head Coach Nuno Espírito Santo’s first home match in charge.
Igor Thiago’s 43rd-minute effort opened the scoring on a frustrating night in east London when the Brazilian forward clipped home from inside the box.
Brentford continued to boss affairs after the interval and eventually sealed the points in the final minute of second half stoppage time when, as we chased an equaliser, the visitors broke and Keane Lewis-Potter squared the ball for Mathias Jensen to make it 2-0.
After both sides took a knee at kick-off to show their continued support for the Premier League's No Room For Racism campaign, the Hammers started brightly and won a series of corners, where Andy Irving’s deliveries caused problems for the visitors, but no goals came from the chances, and the best opportunity of the opening stages arrived in the fifth minute for Brentford.
Igor Thiago launched a rapid counter-attack, at the start of our own half with a pass for the onrushing Kevin Schade. He took it on into the box, and fired into the side-netting after being forced wide by Kyle Walker-Peters, and then the Bees’ No7 headed Thiago’s right-wing cross over Alphonse Areola’s crossbar two minutes later.
The entertaining beginning to the game continued as both teams worked the ball into dangerous areas. Mateus Fernandes’ 20-yard effort from the right edge of the Brentford box was blocked by Sepp Van Den Berg, while for Brentford, Thiago couldn't generate any power behind his header when he latched onto Michael Kayode’s cross.
Moments later, Lucas Paquetá - who became the 30th Brazilian to reach 100 Premier League appearances - did brilliantly to pick out captain Jarrod Bowen on the right-hand side of the box, but his cutback agonisingly didn't find a Claret and Blue shirt.
Most of the action, however, was unfolding in our own half. Maximilian Kilman did superbly to block Dango Ouattara’s effort, Thiago somehow failed to convert a golden chance from just six yards, having got on the end of Ouattara’s flick-on, and Thiago had a shot blocked before Mikkel Damsgaard’s looping header was tipped wide by Areola, but we could not hold out until half-time.
The visitors thundered a ball forward, which Schade flicked through to Thiago, and he slid in past the oncoming Areola, whose touch could not keep the ball out of the net.
Then, out of almost nowhere, we were almost level at the other end, when Bowen typically carried the fight forward and unleashed a fierce left-footed shot which was tipped around the post by Caoimhín Kelleher.
However, Brentford nearly doubled their lead right on the brink of half-time. Thiago raced onto Damsgaard’s ball over the top before lifting his shot over Areola and under the bar to earn a share of the spoils, but thankfully it was ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check, allowing the Hammers to breathe a sigh of relief at the end of a first-half where we faced 15 shots.
Head Coach Nuno Espírito Santo made three substitutions at the break, bringing on Aaron Wan-Bissaka, El Hadji Malick Diouf and Dinos Mavropanos for Ollie Scales, Walker-Peters and Fernandes.
West Ham, admittedly fortunate to trail by a single goal at the interval, expectedly came out with a point to prove after half-time. There continued to be no way through, though, in the early minutes of the second 45, as Crysencio Summerville picked the ball up at the right corner of the box and fired wide of Kelleher’s far post.
An eventful half continued to deliver chances. Damsgaard sent another volley towards goal, that was tipped behind for a corner, Kristoffer Ajer headed over from a corner and Schade thumped a header off the underside of the crossbar when he was picked out by Kayode.
As the hour mark passed, Nuno turned to his bench again, introducing Callum Marshall for his second top flight West Ham appearance, but we continued to struggle to cope with the pace of the Bees’ attack.
Into the final 20 minutes, and despite enduring a difficult evening, there still remained hope of rescuing a point for the Hammers, as Summerville fashioned a chance for Bowen, he sliced his effort wide as we looked to step up our efforts to equalise.
Brentford hit back, as Thiago again proved a handful for the away side again, forcing Areola into a smart save at his near-post before Kilman scrambled the ball clear.
As we pushed forward in search of a leveller, our cause was hampered by an injury to Mavropanos, which meant we had to play out the closing stages with ten men.
By the time the fourth of four minutes of stoppage time arrived, Brentford finally sealed the points with virtually the last kick of the game as Lewis-Potter ghosted in behind West Ham’s rearguard before picking out Jensen to sweep home from close range.
West Ham United: Areola, Walker-Peters (Wan-Bissaka 46), Todibo, Kilman, Scarles (Diouf 46), Souček (Rodríguez 71), Irving (Marshall 62), Fernandes (Mavropanos 46), Summerville, Bowen ©, Paquetá
Subs not used: Hermansen (GK), Rodríguez, Magassa, Wilson
Booked: Summerville
Brentford: Kelleher, Yarmoliuk, Van Den Berg, Collins ©, Ajer, Kayode, Damsgaard (Janelt 75), Henderson (Jensen 90+3), Ouattara (Lewis-Potter 76), Thiago, Schade
Subs not used: Valdimarsson (GK), Henry, Pinnock, Carvalho, Onyeka, Nelson
Booked: Henderson
Goals: Thiago 43, Jensen 90+5
