West Ham have presented Tottenham with the opportunity to climb out of the Premier League relegation zone after suffering a damaging 3-0 defeat at Brentford.
Konstantinos Mavropanos’ own goal, Igor Thaigo’s penalty and Mikkel Damsgaard’s late third has kept West Ham just two points above Spurs, who now know a victory at Aston Villa on Sunday will move them out of the bottom three.
West Ham hit the woodwork three times, had an equaliser ruled out by VAR and failed to score from 13 shots on a luckless day in west London in which their three-game unbeaten run came to an end and increased their relegation worries.
Meanwhile, Brentford earned their first win in seven matches to strengthen their European bid, moving up to sixth and three points above ninth-placed Chelsea ahead of their home game against Nottingham Forest on Monday at 3pm, live on Sky Sports.
West Ham crumble against London rivals
A breathless first-half began with Dango Ouattara’s shot whistling wide inside 30 seconds before West Ham’s Pablo was denied by Caoimhin Kelleher when through on goal.
Mavropanos then turned into his own net in the 15th minute after Michael Kayode had forced the ball against the right post from Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross, but West Ham responded well with Taty Castellanos sending a low shot against the woodwork.
Konstantinos Mavropanos scores an own goal to give Brentford a 1-0 lead against West Ham
The visitors then thought they’d equalised when Mavropanos made up for his error, heading in El Hadji Malick Diouf’s free-kick only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by VAR.
Brentford should have doubled their lead when goalkeeper Mads Hermansen was caught stranded out of his area after sweeping up a ball in behind, with Damsgaard missing an open goal from the edge of the area.
The chances kept coming with Thiago’s dink held by Hermansen while Castellanos sent a second effort against the woodwork, glancing Jarrod Bowen’s corner against the left post.
There was still time for Sepp van den Berg to send a header narrowly wide from Kayode’s long throw and for Castellanos’ swerving, long-range piledriver to be pushed over by Kelleher.
Mikkel Damsgaard is congratulated after scoring Brentford’s third goal against West Ham
The second half was less dramatic once Thiago had slotted home his 22nd Premier League goal of the season. Diouf needlessly and recklessly slid in on Ouattara inside the area and Thiago coolly tucked in the spot kick.
West Ham’s afternoon was compounded when Crysencio Summerville’s curling shot hit the crossbar before Damsgaard wrapped up the victory with a low shot that nestled in the bottom right corner.
