If ever there were opponents that Brentford seem to love playing against it is West Ham. Nick Bruzon previews the Bees’ Monday evening trip to the London Stadium.
Five Premier League wins out of five for the Bees is a sequence that began with Wissa’s wonderful last-minute winner at the London 2012 Olympic Stadium back in that opening top-flight season. Win has followed win – often accompanied by all manner of cat-calling (meow) – right up to this November when Neal Maupay opened proceedings in a game that would ultimately finish with a 3-2 win for the Bees.
That game, let’s not forget, was one in which we first had to play an ‘emergency’ left-back – Vitaly filling in wonderfully. It was a game in which goalkeeper Mark Flekken, the current hero of the moment with three-star player awards and a second place out of our last four games, had to be subbed out with an injury at half-time. It was a game where we showed tremendous fighting spirit to turn a 2-1 deficit at the interval into another three points from the Hammers.
That was then. This is now. Six wins out of six would be a beautiful bit of statistical symmetry but the primary ambition will be in getting points on the board.
For all that Brentford have been going toe-to-toe with the contenders for the title (and also Spurs) in the last five games – a run that also included Liverpool at home and the double-header with Manchester City – there has only been the win at Wolves to show for all the effort exerted.
Had the Bees been playing badly then there would be concerns. Instead, it’s been a case of matching our rivals for huge swathes of games decided by ad-hoc moments. Tuesday’s 1-0 reverse at The Ethiad was a game lost by the narrowest of margins and one where Frank Onyeka was oh so close to punishing the best team in world football.
Whilst Thomas would normally start Monday night with two centre-backs in a game of this nature, I’d suspect that the same team as began at the Ethiad will be the way we go. Perhaps, with the exception of Mathias Jensen (benched for City) reclaiming his starting position from the aforementioned tank. Neal Maupay, a player whose approach would seem tailor-made for this kind of atmosphere, opponents and opposition fans, back in for Wissa the other likely change.
For West Ham, the priority is hoping Kurt Zouma is fit. He is and featured in their most recent game. That, a 2-0 loss to Nottingham Forest. Kalvin Phillips was red-carded at the City ground so misses out whilst Lucas Paquetá is also an injury concern. Back in training although unlikely to start.
Then again, we thought the same about Mo Salah against Liverpool and look how that played out. The most unexpected return since Dirty Den and the Bees felt the full force of his attacking prowess.
Whomever starts, this game is one where both teams will be thinking they can take three points. West Ham haven’t won since before Christmas and David Moyes is starting to come under pressure. With the atmosphere and stress levels likely to be higher than normal, I can only imagine things will stretch to breaking point if Brentford score first.
Especially if Neal is the one who does the damage…
