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Football
West Ham United
vs Brentford. Premier League.
3: 00pm, Saturday 15th February 2025.
London Stadium.
Report and free match highlights as Brentford win 1-0 at West Ham to record a club-record third straight top-flight away win; Kevin Schade's early strike was the difference between the two sides; West Ham stay 16th and Brentford remain in 11th
Football journalist
@Richiereds1976
Saturday 15 February 2025 18: 54, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Kevin Schade's early goal saw Brentford beat West Ham 1-0 at the London Stadium as Thomas Frank's side recorded a club-record third straight top-flight win on their travels. The visitors dominated the first 45 minutes, but only led by Schade's fourth-minute goal as two tight Video Assistant Referee [VAR] calls for offside went against them, although they were grateful the technology went in their favour for their winner. The move started as Yoane Wissa's clever pass from inside his own half released Schade and, after Emerson and Max Kilman collided, the German saw his initial effort half-saved by the advancing Alphonse Areola, who raced back to claw the ball off the line - only for the forward to knock the rebound home. West Ham: Areola (6), Emerson (6), Kilman (6), Mavropanos (6), Wan-Bissaka (7), Soler (5), Alvarez (6), Soucek (5), Paqueta (5), Kudus (6), Bowen (7)
Subs used: Ward-Prowse (6), Guilherme (6), Ferguson (7), Scarles (7)
Brentford: Flekken (7), Van den Berg (7), Collins (7), Ajer (7), Lewis-Potter (7), Damsgaard (7), Norgaard (6), Schade (9), Janelt (8), Wissa (8) Mbeumo (8)
Subs used: Pinnock (6), Jensen (6), Carvalho (6), Yarmoliuk (6), Kayode (6)
Player of the match: Kevin Schade On a day of multiple VAR interventions, Schade's goal first had to be cleared by goal-line technology and then for offside, only for Wissa to see two further strikes ruled out for offside as the Bees only went in 1-0 ahead at the break, despite dominating the first period. West Ham boss Graham Potter made three alterations to the team that lost 2-1 at Chelsea last time out as Lucas Paqueta, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Edson Alvarez were all recalled, with Aaron Cresswell and Andy Irving benched, while Vladimir Coufal was dropped.
As for the visitors, Thomas Frank made just the one change to the side that lost 2-0 at home to Tottenham Hotspur a fortnight ago, with Mark Flekken back in goal in place of Hakon Valdimarsson. West Ham boss Graham Potter reacted by making a triple change at the break and the alterations had the desired impact as the home side began to take charge of proceedings. However, a combination of poor finishing - Mohammed Kudus blazed over a gaping goal after being set up by one of those half-time subs, Evan Ferguson, at the start of the second period - and excellent goalkeeping from the returning Mark Flekken ensured Brentford held on for all three points to remain in 11th place. As for West Ham, though, Potter's side, who stay16th, were booed off at full-time, with the new head coach having only won one game in all competitions since replacing Julen Lopetegui in January.
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West Ham boss Graham Potter: "The first half was nowhere near where we want to be. We suffered from an early goal, which is a poor goal from our perspective. And then without too much happening in the game, they had too many transitions that were dangerous. "In fairness, credit to Brentford, when we conceded the goal that we did, it almost plays into the game that they want it to be. They defend deep, well, and it's hard to create real opportunities against them. "If you don't attack well, you expose yourself to them attacking big spaces, which they're very good at. "So, it's understandable, but again, not what we wanted at all. So we all have to learn from that. I think the second half was a real positive response. "Of course you want to get results, you want to win football matches. That's just the Premier League for you, and you have to understand that. But results-wise, we all want to win, we all want to have success. " Brentford boss Thomas Frank: "It's a very nice feeling [winning three top-flight away games in a row]. "Was I worried after the first half? A little bit. I think we should have been at least 3-0 up. We were completely in control and dominated West Ham away from home. "We had two goals disallowed, had two or three other big chances. Then I hear Graham is changing three players and of course they will have more energy. "But the second half I think we were fairly fine, they never put us under massive pressure. A fully well-deserved win. " Tom from Southampton became a millionaire for free with Super 6! Could you be the next jackpot winner? Play for free!
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