Brilliant Brentford have done it again. A 1-0 victory at West Ham made it 10 points out of 12 on the road since Christmas. With it, The Bees securing three consecutive Premier League away wins for the first time in their history.

A great stat to read on what was a great afternoon. Even if it did get a bit angsty as the game progressed. The Bees, with Mark Flekken back in goal, came out of the blocks flying.

The corresponding home fixture had seen Bryan Mbeumo open the scoring after just 37 seconds for Brentford. Yet any relief Graham Potter may have felt as his West Ham side passed the minute mark with the scores level quickly dissipated.

The kid’s bubble machine that greeted the teams’ arrival onto the pitch had barely stopped parping its wares by the time Kevin Schade made it 1-0. Just four minutes had elapsed when Flekken started a move out from a West Ham corner. The Bees breaking at speed and exchanging passes. Wissa found Mbeumo. He headed it through to Schade whose first effort was saved but that second bite of the cherry deemed to have crossed the line before being cleared.

Goal line technology confirming what had definitely seemed a goal when viewed first time out. Brentford ahead. West Ham crushed before the game had even got going. Their dreams fading and… no, too obvious.

There was no letting up though. With the home heads drooping, Brentford looked to press home the advantage. Mbeumo’s shot saved by Areola in nets but The Bees worked the move again. Wissa coming close but his header straight at the ‘keeper. Brentford continuing to push. To pass . To move. To run rings around a lethargic defence until eventually on 23 minutes Wissa made it 2-0.

Lucas Paquetá losing the ball with a slide rule pass to Mbeumo. Quick as a flash, he released Damsgaard and Wissa. The former stretched for it. The later connected but had strayed marginally offside. The ripple of the net counting for nothing and the second ‘goal’ chalked off almost as quickly as it had come around.

Next up it was Schade’s turn. The half hour mark not even reached as Damsgaard released him with one of those inch-perfect long distance passes we’ve come to enjoy this season. This one probably a good 30 or so yards straight towards goal. The home midfield bisected as easily as cutting a cake in half. Schade turning on the jets and able to get a shot away despite the presence of Kilman. Areola beaten but blushes spared by the woodwork.

Another chance come and gone. Surely it was only a matter of time to that second goal with Brentford in this sort of dominant form? Sure enough, it came on 40 minutes. Yet again, Brentford at their free-flowing best. A move involving half the team but the key components being Bryan, Vitaly’s delightful 1-2 with Ajer before freeing Wissa. A composed finish for 2-0 and the fans jubilant just before half-time.

Except… except. Urgh. The joy of VAR. What technology had given us with Schade’s goal, it took away this time around. Ajer adjudged to have been marginally off-side in the build-up when taking the ball from Janelt. A quite wonderful goal denied.

Even then, KLP still had time to play a killer ball though from the back to Bryan just before the HT whistle. On another day he’d have done better but this time around it went wide. Despite all the dominance, all the chances, all the wonderful play the teams went in with just that slender 1-0 lead to divide them.

Any of the visiting support left fearing that perhaps an opportunity had not been taken soon had their faith tested further. Potter’s triple substitution sparking the home-side into actual life and the Bees finally finding themselves in a game.

Kudus blazing over from yards out just minutes in to the restart with probably the best of the chances. He should have buried it. A glorious opportunity spurned . No complaints from here. Perhaps Collins’ lightest of touches as the ball came through was sufficient to put him off but the change in tone had been set.

Hammers fans’ finding their voice. The team finding their feet. Collins guiding a Paquetá effort over with his head. Sepp van den Berg doing similar minutes later after getting in the way of an absolute thunderbolt. The crowd smelling a goal but, like The Bees, West Ham unable to find a legitimate finishing touch.

Sepp’s early departure on the hour mark a concern for Brentford. Likewise Vitaly’s alleged foul on Paquetá, right on the edge of the box. Ward-Prowse standing over it looked set to do his thing but instead he rolled it sideways. Paquetá, at the heart of everything (most of it woeful) saw a shot in the general direction of the goal veer wide off the back of a team-mate.

With it, the last for the real opportunities had come and gone. Brentford holding firm. The midfield and defence locking it down. Flekken solid when called on. The clock run out and victory achieved. It might have been by more but three points are three points. A clean sheet kept in tricky conditions. The Bees ending the day in eleventh position and already looking forward to a game with Leicester City on Friday night.

Could that trip to the relegation haunted Foxes see it become four in a row for The Bees? On this form, quite possibly. Albeit ironic that after being unable to buy an away in the first half of the campaign The Bees are now loving life on the road.

All that’s to come but for now our post-match look at the top five player ratings. Five points being awarded for star player, four for second place, three for third etc with the totals added up game-by-game to find an overall winner for the season.

2024/25 Brentford Player Ratings from Matchweek 25 (vs West Ham)

1st (Star Player: 5 points) – Kevin Schade
A hard fought top five this time around with any of the first three in with a legitimate shout for pole position.

However, I’m giving it to Kevin. Took his chance really well despite the pressures of the angle and the opposition. On an afternoon where there were plenty of chances, his was the defining moment as he ended up being the only player to score an actual goal for either team. He almost had a second for all his endeavours, too. Curse that post.

Kevin looked a real threat with both that blistering pace and his own aerial presence. More than helped out in his own box when the ball was down the wrong end.

Ultimately, goals win games and his did that. The record books will show one point becoming three as it proved the ultimate difference between the sides

2nd (4 points) – Keane Lewis-Potter
Then again, KLP ran him close. Very close. Jarrod Bowen has probably woken up this morning having had nightmares about his own tormentor. Keano didn’t give him an inch all game.

His 72nd minute interception summing it up. Bowen heading towards goal, losing control after a poor touch and then tumbling to the ground as KLP moved on his man.

It was one of many moments from a player who still created as much as he stopped. Soler being taken out was the catalyst for KLP to turn defence into attack in the move that eventually saw Schade hit the post.

The post-match stats published on the club’s official Twitter account summing him up his afternoon quite wonderfully: 82% Pass Accuracy. 9/12 Long Passes. 100% Tackles Won. 5 Defensive Actions. 7 Recoveries.

In short, another great game from Keane as he continues to revel in the LWB position.

3rd (3 points) – Christian Norgaard
Great team performances give these wonderful tough decisions and it could so easily have been the captain who topped the charts this week.

So it wasn’t to be but he should still be really proud of his performance. To the uninitiated it may not stick out in terms of goals, assists, or chances created but it was one which saw him everywhere, as so often.

Only Kris Ajer out-tackled him whilst Christian topped the passing figure. Something that really stands out given the way Brentford play. Ordinarily it is Mark Flekken or one of the centre backs that top this one. As much symptomatic of our playing around and out of the box.

However, this time around what seemed apparent to the naked eye has been borne out by statistics. Christian was the pivot around which our passing game turned. With it, came victory.

4th (2 points) – Nathan Collins
And then there were two.

Nathan gets fourth place as much for the second half which had much more of backs-to-the-wall feel than the first. Especially in that opening salvo.

Had one of those chances gone in then the outcome could well have been very different. Instead, there was Nathan to distract Kudus and then deny West Ham’s sh*thouser in chief.

I don’t recall seeing him put a foot wrong all afternoon. Solid. Dependable. Young. The 23 year old very much a future captain in the making if he carries on like this.

5th (1 point) – Mikkel Damsgaard
Last place goes to Mikkel.

It’s almost feeling like a contractual obligation to include him in the top five but, being fair, he gets in on merit.

Pulled out enough of his trademark passing to remind everyone (would that it were needed) what a threat he poses. Had he been able to stretch that little bit further to guide that early opportunity home, Brentford would have gone on to run riot.

That he even got alongside Wissa and came close is as much testament to his footballing brain and ability to read his team – something we saw in abundance on Saturday afternoon. It was another tour de force from Damsgaard.

2024/25 Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Overall (after Matchweek 25)

All of which means that heading towards that game in Leicester, the major change in our top five sees KLP move ahead of Mark Flekken in to third place. With Bryan Mbeumo failing to score and Mikkel Damsgaard coming fifth, the chasing three all closed the gap.

Will it be enough to catch the runaway train at the top? Roll on Friday when we find out.

1st – Mikkel Damsgaard (75 points)
2nd – Bryan Mbeumo (47 points)
3rd – Keane Lewis-Potter (44 points)
4th – Mark Flekken (43 points)
5th – Christian Norgaard (41 points)