Brentford vs West Ham

Brentford and West Ham are set to trade tackles at the Gtech Community Stadium in an all-London Premier League showdown.

Brentford seemed up the creek without a paddle across the opening nine Premier League rounds (W1, D4, L3). But confidence is no longer a rare commodity in London following an impressive 2-0 victory at Chelsea last weekend, which came off the back of a 3-0 home win over Burnley. Gunning for three consecutive league triumphs for the first time this term, the ‘Bees’ can draw more inspiration from their stellar 13-game unbeaten streak in the top-flight London derbies. A quick peek into the history books suggests this should be another day in the office for Brentford, considering they’ve won all four previous Premier League H2Hs against West Ham by a combined score of 6-1. That shouldn’t carry them away, though, given they had won none of their first four home league games this term (D3, L1) before beating Burnley.

On the other hand, West Ham recovered from a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Everton with a scintillating 3-1 romping of fellow London rivals Arsenal in midweek League Cup action, alleviating some pressure on manager David Moyes. Despite halting a dreadful three-game losing run in all competitions, Moyes isn’t out of the woods yet, with the ‘Hammers’ entering this round stuck in mid-table lethargy, nine points adrift of the top-four pace. Moreover, they’ve lost their last two away league matches by 3+ goals ‘to one,’ which perhaps explains their tag as pre-match outsiders. That may not necessarily be a bad omen, considering they’ve fared reasonably well in such contests this season (W2, D1, L3).