West Ham vs Brentford Prediction: Exciting capital encounter expected

West Ham will be looking to snap an eight-game winless run when they welcome Brentford to London Stadium on Monday, but they will need to improve vastly if they are to succeed in that task, having never beaten the Bees in the Premier League.

Thomas Frank’s side fought well at Manchester City on Wednesday before eventually succumbing to a 1-0 defeat, but that was a solid performance and they should get plenty of joy against a weak Hammers’ defence, with plenty of goals expected in east London as a result.

Match Odds

West Ham are slight 6/4 favourites for this tie, which is maybe a tad surprising given their poor form and the fact that 7/4 shots Brentford have won all five Premier League meetings between the pair. The draw also makes appeal at 5/2.

Both teams to score has landed in three of Brentford’s last four games and can be backed at 4/7, with over 2.5 goals – also a likely outcome – being chalked up at 4/6.

Team News

West Ham will have to do without loanee Kalvin Phillips for this tie following his red card in the defeat at Nottingham Forest last Saturday, but he looks set to be the sole absentee for the Hammers as Lucas Paqueta returned to training in the week and is in line to start.

The Bees are still without long-term absentees Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey, Ethan Pinnock, Kevin Schade, Josh Dasilva and Bryan Mbeumo.

Over 3.5 total goals @ 7/4

West Ham’s defence has looked utterly woeful in recent weeks as they have conceded 11 without reply across their last three matches and, in all honesty, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest could have had more than the six and two they managed respectively against the sorry Hammers rearguard.

A lack of communication at the back has led to a multitude of issues and Brentford’s in-form attackers Neal Maupay and Ivan Toney – who have netted seven goals between them in the Bees’ last six matches – will be licking their lips at the thought of facing such a leaky defence.

The pair’s eye for goal should help bring up a high scoring total, something which Brentford fans have become accustomed to seeing, with six of the Bees’ last eight Premier League games going over 3.5 goals.

This match could follow suit as David Moyes needs a speedy reaction out of his side with his job security quickly diminishing, which could lead to Scot to attack more than he would usually tend to.

The reverse fixture saw the sides share five goals and with Brentford’s attack in fine form, West Ham needing to go on the front foot and the Hammers’ defence looking far from solid, another high-scoring encounter should be expected.

Neal Maupay to score anytime @ 9/4

As already explained, West Ham are about as solid as a chocolate fireguard currently and Maupay, who has netted five times in his last eight appearances, could inflict more pain on Moyes’ men on Monday.

Maupay has scored four goals in his six previous appearances against the Hammers – never losing to the east London outfit in that run – and he could help the Bees to another positive result against West Ham, just as he did when opening the scoring in his side’s 3-2 win in the reverse fixture.