Brentford Match Preview
West Ham United’s last away game was the London derby at Tottenham Hotspur before the international break. They face another one this afternoon when they travel to The Brentford Community Stadium to take on the newly-promoted Bees.
The Hammers have a good record against the Premier League’s newcomers this season, having done the double over Watford while also earning three points against Norwich City. However, they did suffer a surprise defeat to Thomas Frank’s side back in October so the visitors will be out for revenge.
This will be West Ham’s second visit here and they will be hoping for a similar outcome to their pre-season friendly win back in July when Saïd Benrahma scored the only goal.
The Irons haven’t won on the road since New Year’s Day when they beat Crystal Palace 3-2.
After going through a period of not being able to win a game, today’s hosts have found some good recent form, picking up victories against Norwich City, Burnley and most remarkably of all, an emphatic 4-1 away success over Chelsea last weekend.
The hosts will be the fresher of the two sides as they have had an extra four days to prepare for this game, whereas the Hammers were in action on Thursday night where they were held in the first-leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final tie at home to French outfit Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday and they will want to head to France this coming Thursday with another three points under their belts.
Benrahma looks likely to retain his place in the side and play against his former club, while David Moyes will have to decide whether to stick with Ryan Fredericks in defence or give Ben Johnson a start.
Łukasz Fabiański is set to retain his place in goal.
The match is a 2pm kick-off and the referee is Martin Atkinson.