Brentford v West Ham United
Premier League, Brentford Community Stadium, Sunday 10 April 2022, 2pm
West Ham United's busy April continues with a first-ever Premier League visit to Brentford's Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Fresh from Thursday's heroic 1-1 UEFA Europa League quarter-final first leg draw with Olympique Lyonnais at London Stadium, the Hammers head across the capital to face the Bees.
The Irons scored a victory in their most-recent Premier League match, holding off Everton 2-1 at home last Sunday afternoon, while Brentford were also victorious, scoring a 4-1 success at near neighbours Chelsea on Saturday afternoon.
David Moyes' squad go into the weekend sixth in the Premier League table, with 51 points from 31 games, and remain in the race to secure European qualification for the second straight season.
Newly-promoted Brentford, meanwhile, look on course to stay up, having collected 33 points from 31 games to put themselves in 14th, nine points ahead of Burnley in 18th, albeit the Clarets have two games in hand on Thomas Frank's men.
The Bees stung West Ham late in the reverse fixture at London Stadium back in September, when Yoane Wissa's added-time strike secured a 2-1 win for the visitors.
Ticket news
Tickets for Sunday's game sold out to supporters with 59+ Loyalty Points.
However, seats are available for our upcoming home Premier League fixture with Burnley on Sunday 17 April via the Ticket Exchange, while the home derby with Arsenal on Sunday 1 May is on General Sale.
Click here to watch West Ham United in action live now!
How to follow
Sunday's 2pm kick-off will NOT be broadcast live in the UK, but it will be screened in various territories around the world by the Premier League's international broadcast partners.
For details of international coverage of the game, click here.
We will be covering the game live with a blog and audio commentary on whufc.com and our Official App and across our social media channels, with goals, highlights and exclusive reaction to follow after the final whistle.
Travel news
Supporters are advised to check their journeys before travel, with resources such as TfL's Journey Planner or the TfL Go app helping to avoid some essential works across the transport network. Supporters may also wish to visit the National Rail website to plan their journey if traveling on the rail network.
For more information about how to get to Brentford Community Stadium, visit our Over Land and Sea supporters' guide.
Team news
David Moyes has no fresh injury concerns ahead of Sunday's London derby.
Manuel Lanzini, who was involved in a car accident on Thursday 31 April, but avoided serious injury, has returned to training at Rush Green.
While the Italian defender has stepped up his rehabilitation, Angelo Ogbonna remains unavailable following knee surgery back in November.
Aaron Cresswell, who was sent-off in Thursday's UEFA Europa League tie with Olympique Lyonnais, is available as his one-match suspension will be served in the quarter-final second leg in France and not in domestic competition.
Saïd Benrahma is set to face his former club, having spent two seasons with Brentford between 2018-20, scoring 30 goals and assisting 27 more in 94 appearances for the Bees.
Brentford's only likely absentee is Ilford-born midfielder Josh Dasilva, who has a hamstring injury.
The opposition – Brentford
Brentford have enjoyed a strong debut Premier League season under the shrewd eye of head coach Thomas Frank.
Utilising the unique scouting, recruitment and player development system put in place since analytics-led sports gambler Matthew Benham took control of the club a decade ago, the Bees flew into the top-flight via the EFL Championship Play-Offs last season.
Having honed his skills with Danish club Midtjylland, Benham recruited a Danish coach in Frank, who was promoted to the role of head coach in 2018, and players from the country have played a big role in Brentford's recent rise.
Among them are current squad members Christian Nørgaard, Mathias Jensen and the recently recruited Christian Eriksen, who has made a welcome and impressive return just a few months after suffering a cardiac arrest while playing for his country at UEFA Euro 2020.
Alongside the Danes, Brentford's success this season has been based on players from a host of other countries, most notably Sweden centre-back and captain Pontus Jansson, French forward Bryan Mbuemo, Jamaica defender Ethan Pinnock, German defensive midfielder Vitaly Janelt, Spanish goalkeeper David Raya and English centre-forward Ivan Toney.
Toney has been to Brentford what Michail Antonio has been to West Ham United, leading the line selflessly and scoring eleven important Premier League goals.
While Norwich City and Watford may have finished above Brentford in the Championship last season, it is the Bees who have looked better prepared for the challenges of the Premier League this, from their opening-day home win over Arsenal to last weekend's victory at Stamford Bridge.
For fans of a fresh and unique football story, Brentford's is one to savour, and it looks like this season is merely one of the early chapters.
Previous meetings
Sunday's game will be just the second Premier League fixture between the two clubs, with the first having taken place at London Stadium back on 3 October 2021.
Bryan Mbuemo put Brentford into a 20th-minute lead, but Jarrod Bowen appeared to have secured a point for West Ham United when he levelled ten minutes from full-time. However, Yoane Wissa's goal in the fourth minute of added-time secured all three points for the Bees.
Prior to that, the most-recent meetings came back in the 1992/93 season, when both clubs were in the old Division One (now the Championship).
West Ham were promoted that season, having drawn 0-0 at Brentford's old Griffin Park stadium before thrashing the Bees 4-0 at the Boleyn Ground, where Martin Allen, Peter Butler, Trevor Morley and Kevin Keen got the goals for Billy Bonds' Hammers.
Our first-ever meeting came all the way back on 11 September 1897, when Thames Ironworks FC, as we were then known, won a London League fixture 1-0 at the Memorial Grounds, with Scotsman Jimmy Reid getting the only goal of the game in front of 1,000 spectators.
Match officials
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Assistant Referees: Lee Betts & Constantine Hatzidakis
Fourth Official: Simon Hooper
VAR: Lee Mason
Assistant VAR: Darren Cann
Born in the village of Drighlington, midway between Leeds and Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in March 1971, Martin Atkinson began refereeing at the age of 16.
He joined the Football League as an assistant referee aged 27, in 1998, before being promoted to the national list of referees five years later.
Atkinson refereed his first Premier League game, Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Birmingham City, in April 2005. The following year, 2006, he was appointed to the FIFA list of international referees.
Atkinson has officiated a number of high-profile matches, including the 2011 FA Cup final, 2014 EFL Cup final, UEFA Champions League and international matches, including being England’s representative at UEFA Euro 2016.
The 51-year-old has referred West Ham United on 61 previous occasions, including three Premier League matches this season - our 4-2 opening-day victory at Newcastle United back in August, the 2-1 home defeat by Manchester United in September and 1-0 home win over Watford in February.
