Match Preview: West Ham United v Brentford | OneFootball

Brentford travel to London Stadium on Monday (8pm kick-off GMT), live on Sky Sports.

The Bees have won three of their four Premier League visits to the Hammers, who are set for their first home game under Nuno Espírito Santo.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know before kick-off.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Set-pieces have been costly for West Ham

West Ham head coach Nuno Espírito Santo will be looking to instil some much-needed defensive stability when the Hammers host Brentford this coming Monday.

Nuno has overseen a 1-1 draw with Everton and a 2-0 defeat against Arsenal since succeeding Graham Potter in the dugout, and his first order of business is to shore up the Premier League's leakiest defence.

This season, the Hammers have shipped more goals (16) than any of their top-tier rivals and currently have the worst goal difference (-10) in the division.

Tipped to return to a back three, after trialling a 3-5-2 formation in a behind-closed-doors friendly during the international break, Nuno has a track record of improving teams defensively.

The Hammers have already conceded eight goals from set-pieces this term - twice as many as any other Premier League team - and tightening up in that area will be a priority for the east Londoners.

Fortunately, the Portuguese head coach’s record suggests he is just the man for the job.

Under his guidance last season, Nottingham Forest scored more goals from corners, throw-ins and free-kicks (17) than any other top-tier side and conceded just nine from them - the same number as eventual champions Liverpool.

Brentford, meanwhile, have long been strong in this department. Even though Keith Andrews’ side have only scored once from a set-piece in the league this season (Fábio Carvalho’s late leveller against Chelsea), almost half (47%) of their set-piece deliveries have led to a shot - the highest rate in the league.

A fascinating derby awaits, with both sides keen to hit the ground running after the recent international hiatus. It could prove a cagey tactical battle, with both teams looking to remain solid at the back while springing forward on the counter.

This could bode well for the visitors, as no side has scored more Premier League goals on the counter attack than Brentford (3) this term - just one shy of the four they managed on the break in 2024/25.

Perhaps the key dilemma facing Andrews and his coaching staff is how to amplify the trends in many of their early-season statistics.

When it comes to the quality of the chances they are creating, the expected goals metric shows that the Bees are out on their own this season: their xG-per-shot of 0.17 is the best in the top flight.

Similarly, the west Londoners' shot-on-target percentage of 42% is the cream of the crop.

On the other hand, Brentford have taken just 55 shots in total in league play, their 7.86 shots-per-90 trailing behind their Premier League peers.

It's a classic ‘quality versus quantity’ conundrum for the Bees, in many ways, and Andrews’ side will look to boost the latter without sacrificing the former under the lights at London Stadium.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Hammers must pick up results quickly

Graham Potter said it was “like Christmas for adults” when he spoke after being appointed West Ham manager, on a two-and-a-half-year deal on 9 January.

That initial novelty wore off pretty quickly, though, as he lost his first game in charge against Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round and took only four points from his first five Premier League games in charge.

Potter’s side did achieve back-to-back league victories for the first time in almost a year when they beat Arsenal and Leicester in February, but they only picked up two wins from the final 11 to finish 14th for the second time in the last three seasons.

Had Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton not struggled quite so badly, a return of 37 points with three games to play might have put them right in the thick of the relegation battle.

In only six of their 29 seasons in the Premier League, up to the end of last season, had they lost more games (17) and in only five of those 29 had they conceded more goals (62).

“I’m excited about the whole season ahead,” Potter told the club’s official website two days before the first game of the season at newly-promoted Sunderland. And why would that not have been the case? The Hammers had a positive pre-season on the pitch and in the transfer market.

But they were humbled by the Black Cats. Then thumped 5-1 by Chelsea. Then knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Wolves. A 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest - in a game that was still 0-0 after 83 minutes - should have provided a springboard going into the international break, but further defeats to Tottenham and Crystal Palace followed.

Potter was sacked on 27 September after less than nine months. He was in charge for three games more than Julen Lopetegui (25 vs 22), yet won one game fewer (6 vs 7). No permanent manager in the club’s history has a lower win ratio than his 24 per cent.

18 days after his own departure from Nottingham Forest, the same day, Nuno Espírito Santo signed a three-year contract to replace Potter at London Stadium.

The Portuguese has only taken charge of two games so far, both of which came within a week of his arrival so, arguably, he cannot be judged yet. But the October international break will have been utilised well; it is the perfect time for any manager to get ideas across uninterrupted.

And he needs to start picking up results quickly; West Ham will stay among the bookies’ favourites for relegation until they do.

In the Dugout

Nuno Espírito Santo

Once signed by José Mourinho during his time at Porto, Nuno Espírito Santo had a long career as a goalkeeper - though often played second fiddle - primarily spent in Portugal and Spain, with time in Russia at Dynamo Moscow during 2005 and 2006.

Nuno retired in 2010, after his second spell at Porto, but quickly went on to become a goalkeeper coach at Malaga and then Panathinaikos, working with his former manager Jesualdo Ferreira each time. He returned to Portugal to take on his first managerial role with Rio Ave in the summer of 2012 and remained at the club for two years.

He was then hired by Valencia, whom he guided to a fourth-place finish in La Liga in 2014/15, though he resigned less than four months into the following campaign after three defeats in their first five Champions League group matches, as well as five wins from the first 13 league matches, which left them languishing in ninth when he departed.

Porto decided to take a chance on their former player in 2016/17, yet he only saw out half of his two-year deal as the club opted to replace him the following summer after he failed to deliver silverware, despite losing only six of his 49 games in charge.

The 51-year-old is perhaps best known for the four years he spent at Wolves. He joined the club at the end of a chaotic 2016/17 campaign - during which they had three permanent managers - and led them to promotion out of the Championship at the first time of asking.

In 2019/20, Wolves recorded their joint-highest Premier League finish (7th) and their highest points tally (59), as well as reaching the quarter-final of the Europa League.

Having left Molineux by mutual consent in June 2021, Nuno went to Tottenham and started well with three-straight Premier League wins. Ultimately, he lasted only four months in the job, having followed up those victories with five defeats in the next seven.

He then spent 16 months in Saudi Arabia, guiding Al-Ittihad to the Saudi Pro League title and Saudi Super Cup, and returned to England just before Christmas 2023, having been dismissed little over a month earlier, to join Nottingham Forest.

In his first season at the City Ground, Nuno helped Forest retain their Premier League status by a margin of six points and in his one and only full season there, he guided the club to their highest finish since 1994/95 and Europe for the first time since 1995/96. He was sacked on 9 September, but signed a three-year deal at West Ham 18 days later.

The Gameplan

With Sam Tabuteau, The Standard

Sam Tabuteau, football reporter for The Standard, discusses how Nuno Espírito Santo is likely to set up his team on Monday night.

"I think it is going to be a four-man defence. It is going to be predicated on being solid and being defensively strong," said The Standard reporter.

"But, also, it is about being able to spring those counters and attack with pace, which they showed with their equalising goal against Everton.

"That was a really fast break forward in which El Hadji Malick Diouf bombs down the flank, crosses, the ball eventually breaks to Jarrod Bowen, and he scores. That is the type of goal that they will be looking to replicate.

"Against Arsenal, it was a little bit of a different game. They were coming up against the league leaders, so they sat in and probably showed a bit more defensively.

"In terms of what Nuno will want consistently, it is to be defensively strong, but also being able to break forward with pace. He has spoken about it a lot.

"The key thing he says is about finding that balance; they have to find the balance between defence and attack. They cannot attack without having a solid defensive base. That is the most important thing for him."

Last starting XI v Arsenal (4-1-4-1): Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Kilman, Diouf; Magassa; Bowen, Paquetá, Fernandes, Summerville; Füllkrug

Read our full interview with Sam Tabuteau here

Match Officials

Madley to referee Monday's London derby

Referee: Andrew Madley

Assistants: Nick Hopton and Craig Taylor

Fourth official: Thomas Bramall

VAR: Jarred Gillett

Andrew Madley first took charge of a Brentford fixture on New Year's Day in 2014 as the Bees won 3-1 at Peterborough United in League One.

The Huddersfield-born official had the whistle for three matches involving the west Londoners last term, with the most recent being the meeting with Liverpool at Gtech Community Stadium in January.

Across his four games this term, Madley has handed out 11 yellow cards and one red.

Last Meeting

West Ham 0 Brentford 1 (Premier League, 15 February 2025)

An early goal from Kevin Schade saw Brentford make it three Premier League away wins in a row for the first time.

The German's effort, which was confirmed by goal-line technology when it looked like home goalkeeper Alphonse Areola may have done enough to keep it out, was the difference despite an utterly dominant first half from the Bees where they had two goals disallowed for offside and also hit the post.

Mohammed Kudus blazed over West Ham's best chance early in the second half as the west Londoners picked up a deserved three points.