English Premier
2025-10-20 - West Ham United vs Brentford
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Monday 20th October 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
West Ham United
It was unsurprising when West Ham United moved to remove Graham Potter as manager and the fans will have been largely pleased with the appointment of Nuno Espirito Santo. Two tough games have been played under his guidance, but the next month between the international breaks feels important for West Ham United, and the manager, to get some points on the board.
The team will be playing in a tough backdrop with fans expected to be protesting the direction the ownership are taking West Ham United and that will make this a challenging fixture. The Hammers are 19th in the Premier League table with 4 points on the board, while they have really struggled at the London Stadium where West Ham United have a 0-0-3 record in the top flight.
West Ham United's last win ironically came against Nuno Espirito Santo in his last game in charge of Nottingham Forest and they have lost 3 of their last 4 fixtures. The poor form at home has been going on for several months now and West Ham United have not won any of their last 8 Premier League fixtures at the London Stadium, while they have lost 4 in a row here.
Tomas Soucek is back from a suspension, which means George Earthy is the only absentee. James Ward-Prowse does not look to be in the plans of the new manager.
Brentford
It feels like there is something of the Jekyll and Hyde about Brentford in the early stages of the season- they been competitive at home, despite facing some of the better teams in the Premier League, but have really been struggling on their travels. Keith Andrews will be looking to address that as Brentford travel across London for this derby on Monday night.
A home loss to Manchester City two weeks ago leaves Brentford in 16th place in the Premier League table, but they do have 7 points on the board. Playing in the last fixture in this round of games means the table could look very different at kick off as Brentford try to improve the 0-0-3 away record having scored 3 goals and conceded 8 in those matches.
Brentford have won 1 of their last 6 games in all competitions in normal time, although they have also secured a Penalty Shoot Out win against Aston Villa to progress to the League Cup Fourth Round in that run. The Bees did win a League Cup Second Round tie at the Vitality Stadium, but they have lost the 3 away Premier League games at Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Fulham.
Aaron Hickey and Yegor Yarmoliuk are both doubts, while Edmond-Paris Maghoma is unlikely to be selected until building up match fitness by playing with the Brentford B team.
Head to Head
Brentford earned four points against West Ham United last season and the majority were from a 0-1 win at the London Stadium.
That means Brentford have won 3 of the 4 fixtures played in this Stadium since returning to the top flight.
However, the exception in February 2024 was a 4-2 win for West Ham United.
Prediction
This London derby is going to be played under the London Stadium lights on Monday evening and there is also going to be a cloud cast by the home fans.
Protests are going to be running as the West Ham United fans demand a change in ownership- there are very few decisions made by those in charge of the club that the fans have agreed with and frustrations have reached boiling point.
All in all, this is a difficult situation for Nuno Espirito Santo to work within, although his experiences with Wolves and Nottingham Forest will give the manager confidence that he can rally all parties together.
This looks a long shot and the only focus that has to be in play is making sure West Ham United begin to win games.
The atmosphere will make it more challenging for the players, who have lost all 3 League games played here and not been nearly as competitive as supporters would have hoped. Those have been against three of the current top seven and so the players have to take advantage of facing an opponent that will give them chances.
As poor as West Ham United's home record has been, they are going in as narrow favourites against a Brentford team that have already lost to a team being managed by Nuno Espirito Santo once this season.
That was all the way back on the opening weekend at the City Ground, but poor performances at Sunderland and Fulham have led to further defeats.
Keith Andrews will be confident that his team can exploit the set piece vulnerabilities that West Ham United continue to display, but he will need his Brentford team to defend with more authority. They have also not been nearly as good on their travels as they have been at the Gtech Community Stadium and so this is a fascinating fixture that is quite difficult to read.
West Ham United's home record against Brentford does make for difficult reading, but Nuno Espirito Santo is a manager who can stabilise The Hammers. They played well at Everton in his first game in charge and the first home game should see the players motivated to perform.
These teams have met 9 times since Brentford were Promoted to the Premier League and only one of those matches has ended in a draw. That is a big runner in this fixture with neither team playing with a lot of consistency, and it is not a game in which you would expect either to dominate.
Picking the teams to both get off the mark at home/away respectively in the Premier League with the points shared looks worthy of a small interest.
That single draw in the last 9 matches between these two London clubs was played out last season in West London and only a single goal was scored when they met at the London Stadium. Goals do change games very quickly, but both teams may have issues putting this fixture to bed even if they move in front and the 1-1 looks the most likely outcome, which is not going to go down particularly well with the already angry home supporters.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
West Ham United 1-1 Brentford
