Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa scored first-half goals to help Brentford produce one of the most comfortable football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. Due to a slight hamstring injury, the Bees, who were without their top striker Ivan Toney, scored twice in the opening period via Bryan Mbeumo (20) and Yoane Wissa (43) respectively. West Ham, who made nine changes in preparation for Thursday’s second leg of the Europa League Conference Semifinal against AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, allowed Thomas Frank’s team to have 24 shots against them.
One of those substitutions was Danny Ings, and VAR disallowed him from scoring in the second half because of a handball in the area leading up to his close-range header, which would have given West Ham a chance to get back into the match. Irons manager David Moyes afterward referred to it as a “very strange” choice. Although a victory in west London would have mathematically ensured the survival of the Hammers, they are now six points above the drop zone and are all but safe in the Premier League. Brentford, however, has now triumphed in all four Premier League encounters with the Irons, and their success against Fulham puts them up to ninth place.
West Ham’s interests were evidently elsewhere as seen by the team announcement at the Gtech Community Stadium, where David Moyes fielded an impromptu squad ahead of Thursday night’s trip to AZ Alkmaar. However, one of the two players who maintained their spot from the first-leg victory against AZ was the one who made it possible for Brentford to score first in the 20th minute. After Mikkel Damsgaard successfully intercepted defender Nayef Aguerd’s errant pass, the ball finally fell to Mathias Jensen, who set up Mbeumo for a low shot beneath Lukasz Fabianski.
The Hammers custodian may have let up the opening goal, but he made up for it by stopping Wissa twice, the second save being during a wild scrum in the goalmouth that resulted in Ben Mee’s smashing attempt being deflected away. In contrast, Wissa did defeat Fabianski in the 43rd minute. Wissa scored his sixth goal of the year after Mee flicked on a long pass from Jensen.
Brentford had more opportunities to win the game in the second half, but Wissa, Mbeumo, and Damsgaard all missed. With 30 minutes remaining, Moyes substituted Declan Rice and Said Benrahma and the latter almost spurred a comeback by the Hammers. The former Brentford player’s cross smashed into Manuel Lanzini’s path after bouncing against the woodwork, and he flicked a ball into Ings, who headed it in. However, the goal was ruled to have been handled by replacement Divin Mubama after the ball bounced off the post and onto his arm.
“Very weird. The Premier League has publicly stated that it was intentional handball. We need some clarification on that, in my opinion. I would start by stating that it is inconclusive. If anything, I believe it strikes his collarbone and shoulder,” West Ham boss David Moyes said. “We all know the rule if a handball results in a goal, but I most definitely don’t see purposeful. He could even be preventing himself from accepting the position. It’s amazing that it was dismissed. To be honest, though, if this were the first instance of a handball in a recent game that we were discussing, I would think that it was possible, but we’re now talking about three instances of this [after receiving no penalties for handballs against Manchester United and Liverpool in recent weeks]. It is becoming routine. Really, it is. If you said we’ve had our fair share, I’m saying I don’t think we have since we’ve had three actual ones that might have changed the course of events, and I don’t want to get in trouble for stating this.”
“I was questioned about it before the season, and in an effort to avoid seeming too clever, we made an effort to analyze the situation. We looked at the players, the other teams, our results, and our culture, and we reasoned that there was no reason why we couldn’t succeed in our second season,” Brentford boss Thomas Frank said. “We are currently 100% in the top 10, which is a fantastic accomplishment. We’ll evaluate him this week to see whether he’ll be able to play for Tottenham. That’s the goal we’re aiming for.”
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