Kevin Schade’s early strike 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 somehow raced back to claw the ball off the line – only for the forward to knock the rebound home.
Brentford’s Kevin Schade (right) celebrates his goal with Bryan Mbeumo
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 then 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 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.
As for West Ham, though, Potter’s side 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.
