Toney stars as Brentford beat West Ham and heap pressure on David Moyes
INJURY: Brentford's Ivan Toney. Pic: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire.
DAVID MOYES is under even more pressure as West Ham boss after watching his side crash to a 2-0 home defeat to Brentford.
It means the Hammers are without a win in the last five Premier League games – a run that stretches back to before the break for the World Cup – and leaves many fans out of patience with the man who guided the club to the Europa League semi-final just seven months ago.
The Bees went into the game six places above their London rivals, but you would not have known it based on the early stages. West Ham came out as a side that looked in desperate need of a win, twice going close through Declan Rice’s curling effort which hit the post before Craig Dawson nodded just wide from a corner.
West Ham caused chaos in the away side’s penalty area from their corners and long throws, and Brentford’s lead was made worse for the home support only by the fact it came from a situation where the Hammers had looked so dangerous.
Mathias Jensen’s long throw into the box was not dealt with by the West Ham defence, allowing Ethan Pinnock to flick the ball on to team-mate Christian Norgaard who forced Lukasz Fabianki into an excellent stop.
But the prolific Ivan Toney reacted quickest to poke home the rebound for his 12th Premier League goal of the season. Toney continues to seem completely unfazed by the threat of a possible ban from football if he is found guilty of breaching FA betting rules, having been charged with allegedly doing so more than 250 times.
Though Brentford will be left feeling concerned by a late injury to their top scorer, who was forced off on a stretcher after landing awkwardly following an aerial challenge with Dawson late on in the game.
Frank’s side sealed another big three points before half-time with talisman Toney involved again. The forward’s hopeful, flicked pass allowed Josh Dasilva to leave Aaron Creswell for dead, blitzing past him before slotting calmly into the bottom corner.
The run of recent poor form was reflected among the home support. This was a flat London Stadium atmosphere for much of the game, the loudest noise of the night coming from the groans and boos of the crowd.
Rice will be left wondering whether things might have turned out differently had his lovely, curling effort crept just inside the post on five minutes.
So will Dawson, whose aerial ability gave the away side all sorts of problems in the opening stages as his header dropped agonisingly wide of the bottom corner from Jarrod Bowen’s corner kick. This game could quite easily have seen the roles reversed, with West Ham instead the side to go 2-0 up.
There were penalty claims too. Dawson had the biggest after going down in the box under a challenge from Jensen as the traffic continued to go one way.
Even after Toney’s goal, the home side continued to look more dangerous. Raya produced a fine save to prevent the Hammers from getting a deserved goal when Ogbonna found Emerson, who struck a vicious effort towards the near post which the Brentford goalkeeper was equal to.
Dasilva’s goal led to a mass exodus of fans right before the break and offered a stark contrast to the travelling away support, who shouted their much-loved head coach Thomas Frank’s name followed by chants of “you’re getting sacked in the morning” aimed at the home dugout.
Emerson and Lucas Paqueta combined well near the edge of the box before the latter flashed an effort just wide of the bottom corner which was followed by noticeable boos when the half-time whistle sounded.
West Ham started the second half much as they began the first and the lively Bowen thought he had won his side a penalty when the referee pointed to the spot for a foul by Ben Mee, only for VAR to show that the foul had in fact occurred outside the box.
Brentford had seen their counter-attacking game plan work to perfection in the first half and a two-goal advantage played perfectly into their hands, with Moyes’ team struggling to generate as many opportunities as is in the first 45 minutes.
Bowen continued to try to will his team back into the game and was denied by a good low stop from Raya before Fabianski prevented the Bees from adding a third by saving substitute Saman Ghoddos’ volley.
Dawson’s header was well tipped over by Raya but by this point, the writing was on the wall for West Ham, who were condemned to another defeat and makes their trip to fellow strugglers Leeds United in the new year of even more importance.
Raya 8, Zanka 7, Pinnock 7, Mee 7, Roerslev 7, Norgaard 7, Dasilva 8 (Ghoddos 67’), Jensen 7 (Janelt 59’), Henry 7, Toney 8 (Jansson 90’), Mbeumo 7 (Wissa 59’)
Fabianski 6, Ogbonna 6, Dawson 6, Creswell 5, Coufal 6, Rice 7, Paqueta 5 (Soucek 82’), Emerson 6 (Antonio 64’), Benrahma 6, Bowen 7, Scamacca 6
Darren England 6
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