Brentford return to Gtech Community Stadium this Saturday for a London derby against West Ham United (3pm kick-off BST).
The Bees lost 2-1 to Manchester United in the Premier League on Monday night, while Nuno Espírito Santo’s side beat Everton 2-1 last weekend with a late Callum Wilson goal at London Stadium.
Analysis, team news, match officials and more - here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.
Pre-match Analysis
Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Brentford must convert control into goals
Brentford host relegation-threatened West Ham in another London derby this Saturday - looking to combine control with a clinical edge.
The Bees put in an impressive all-round display at Old Trafford on Monday night, but were unable to translate performance (and 55 per cent possession) into points, as Michael Carrick's Red Devils emerged 2-1 winners.
In this context, it is worth digging deeper into Brentford's possession statistics this term. Under Keith Andrews, the west Londoners have turned in some outstanding defensive performances and shown a knack of winning games in which they have allowed their opponents to dominate the ball.
The Bees have done the double over Aston Villa this season in precisely this fashion. Dango Ouattara scored match-winning goals in two 1-0 wins, despite the Villans dominating 76 per cent possession at the Gtech and enjoying 72 per cent of the ball at Villa Park - with Brentford down to 10 men for the entire second half.
October's thrilling 3-2 win over Liverpool was secured despite the Bees having a 34 per cent ball share, further highlighting how effective Andrews' side can be out of possession.
However, some of Brentford's most controlled performances this season have seen them struggle to convert possession into Premier League points.
Exhibit A, in this regard, is the 2-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest at the turn of the year. The Bees recorded their highest possession share (66 per cent) of the 2025/26 campaign during that game, but were unable to breach a stubborn Forest defence that limited the Bees to just one shot on target.
Similarly, Brentford generated just 0.48 xG in their 2-0 away defeat at Crystal Palace last November - their attack blunted despite enjoying 64 per cent of the ball at Selhurst Park.
This Saturday's encounter is intriguing, therefore, given that only Burnley (41.6 per cent) have a lower average possession share than West Ham (42.1 per cent) in the Premier League this season.
Hammers head coach Nuno Espírito Santo led Nottingham Forest into Europe last season with a low-possession, counter-attacking brand of football and a fascinating tactical match-up awaits at the Gtech.
With Igor Thiago, Kevin Schade and Ouattara, Brentford boast one of the most complete attacking trios in the Premier League, but West Ham carry a threat of their own, with captain Jarrod Bowen on one wing, Crysencio Summerville on the other and Taty Castellanos leading the line.
How each side chooses to assert themselves - and feed their forwards - could prove crucial, and Brentford's 2-0 victory over the Hammers in Gameweek 8 may offer a blueprint.
Strikes from Thiago and Mathias Jensen earned Brentford a deserved victory that October night, as the Bees dominated 57 per cent possession and fired in 22 shots at goal.
If the Bees can replicate that level of performance, the points should follow.
Scout Report
Dan Long, Sky Sports: Resurgent West Ham fighting for Premier League survival
When Brentford visited London Stadium in October, West Ham were in the mire.
They had already changed manager from Graham Potter to Nuno Espírito Santo, and a 2-0 Bees win - courtesy of goals from Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen - was their sixth loss in the first eight games. They were already three points from safety, even at that early stage.
The Hammers lost 2-1 to Leeds in their next outing, but then appeared to turn a corner, with a 3-1 win over Newcastle and a 3-2 victory against Burnley. In both home games, they came from behind.
“We will try to transform London Stadium into a very difficult stadium for our opponents,” said Nuno after the first of those.
In reality, they lost four of the next five there and went 10 matches without a Premier League win.
“We are concerned for the situation,” Nuno admitted after the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City five days before Christmas.
On 3 January, he labelled a 3-0 defeat to former club Wolves “embarrassing” and “not good enough,” adding: “I don’t recall one day that I felt so bad on a football pitch.”
In the wake of a 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 6 January, however, he was bullish. “It’s not over yet. We’ll keep on going,” he said. In truth, he had no other alternative.
The latter result left West Ham seven points adrift of Forest in 17th. There was no getting away from the fact the Portuguese was under intense and mounting pressure.
Fortunately, the campaign was just about salvageable, as Nuno’s side have proved since. They have taken 22 points from the last 39 on offer and currently sit sixth in the form table over the last 10 games.
They balanced that resurgence with reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in a decade, knocking out QPR, Burton and Brentford.
Three of their four away wins this term have come from 17 January onwards, but the home form has been crucial to the turnaround, just as Nuno had hoped it would be earlier in the season. At London Stadium, they are unbeaten in six and have conceded just four times in those games.
Still, they are not out of trouble yet.
With four games to play, West Ham sit two points above Tottenham, who currently occupy the final relegation spot.
It would have been the other way round had Callum Wilson - who looked set to leave the club in January - not scored a 92nd-minute winner last time out.
Opta Analyst’s latest predicted table gives them a 38.03 per cent chance of relegation, which is significantly lower than Tottenham’s, which currently stands at 58.72 per cent.
Should they continue as they have done since that 2-1 win over Spurs on 17 January, averaging 1.69 points per game, they will pick up 6.76 more points. Rounded up to seven, that would take them to 43 - and, in a 38-game season, no team has ever collected that many points and gone down.
But football is not as cut and dried as that, and West Ham are going to need to fight for their lives in the final weeks in order to avoid the drop.
In the Dugout
Nuno Espírito Santo
Once signed by José Mourinho during his time at Porto, Nuno Espírito Santo had a long career as a goalkeeper - though often played second fiddle - primarily spent in Portugal and Spain, with time in Russia at Dynamo Moscow during 2005 and 2006.
Nuno retired in 2010, after his second spell at Porto, but quickly went on to become a goalkeeper coach at Malaga and then Panathinaikos, working with his former manager Jesualdo Ferreira each time. He returned to Portugal to take on his first managerial role with Rio Ave in the summer of 2012 and remained at the club for two years.
He was then hired by Valencia, whom he guided to a fourth-place finish in La Liga in 2014/15, though he resigned less than four months into the following campaign after three defeats in their first five Champions League group matches, as well as five wins from the first 13 league matches, which left them languishing in ninth when he departed.
Porto decided to take a chance on their former player in 2016/17, yet he only saw out half of his two-year deal as the club opted to replace him the following summer after he failed to deliver silverware, despite losing only six of his 49 games in charge.
The 52-year-old is perhaps best known for the four years he spent at Wolves. He joined the club at the end of a chaotic 2016/17 campaign - during which they had three permanent managers - and led them to promotion out of the Championship at the first time of asking. In 2019/20, Wolves recorded their joint-highest Premier League finish (seventh), their highest points tally (59), as well as reaching the quarter-final of the Europa League.
Having left Molineux by mutual consent in June 2021, Nuno went to Tottenham and started well with three straight Premier League wins. Ultimately, he lasted only four months in the job, having followed up those victories with five defeats in the next seven.
He then spent 16 months in Saudi Arabia, guiding Al-Ittihad to the Saudi Pro League title and Saudi Super Cup, and returned to England just before Christmas 2023, having been sacked little over a month earlier, to join Nottingham Forest.
In his first season at the City Ground, Nuno helped Forest retain their Premier League status by a margin of six points and in his one and only full season there, he guided the club to their highest finish since 1994/95 and Europe for the first time since 1995/96. He was sacked on 9 September but signed a three-year deal at West Ham 18 days later.
The Gameplan
With Sam Tabuteau, Standard Sport
Sam Tabuteau, football reporter for Standard Sport, explains how West Ham are likely to approach Saturday's game at the Gtech.
"It is a very counter-attacking style, in the mould of Nuno’s previous teams," he told brentfordfc.com earlier this week.
"It will be four at the back, but it can also shift to a five. They look to get the ball out to the wingers and just attack space. Something they had a lot of success against Wolves, for example, was the timing of their press and picking off teams in possession.
"Bowen and Summerville are really key to that and they time their pressures really well to win the ball high up and create quick turnovers."
Last Premier League starting XI v Everton (4-4-1-1): Hermansen; Walker-Peters, Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf; Bowen, Souček, Fernandes, Summerville; Pablo; Castellanos
Match Officials
Pawson to referee third Brentford fixture this season
Referee: Craig Pawson
Assistants: Lee Betts and Mat Wilkes
Fourth official: Andy Madley
VAR: Tony Harrington
Craig Pawson will referee Saturday's game at Gtech Community Stadium.
Pawson has officiated 24 games this term, including Brentford's 3-1 win over Manchester United and goalless draw with Bournemouth.
In total, Pawson has shown 68 yellow cards and three reds this season.
Last Premier League Meeting
West Ham United 0 Brentford 2 (20 October 2025)
Brentford secured their first Premier League away win of the season, beating West Ham United 2-0 at London Stadium.
Igor Thiago's fifth goal of the campaign and a late Mathias Jensen strike capped off a dominant display by the Bees, which saw them have 22 shots on the Hammers' goal.