westhamfans.org

Hammers 'urgent' need for an additional midfield player who knows how to 'put it about' was highlighted during the 3-2 defeat to Brentford last Saturday, a midfield shorn of the likes of Lucas Paqueta AND Edson Alvarez was cruelly exposed. Ironically the player who could easily have stepped in to fill the gaps is currently on loan at Southampton where he is performing impeccably.

Hammers spirited but eventually pointless visit to the GTech Stadium in West London raised certain issues that just won't go away! Primarily the club or its manager's inability to 'find' a striker has come back to haunt the club in a massive way. It is not as if it is a new scenario, having failed to sign a replacement for Gianluca Scammaca following hot on the heels of not signing a replacement for Sebastien Haller, somehow somewhere there is a serial offender at large!

Brentford: Flekken, Ajer, Collins, Pinnock, Janelt, Norgaard (c), Jensen, Onyeka; Mbeumo, Wissa, Maupay. Subs: Strakosha, Zanka, Ghoddos, Mee, Roerslev, Yarmolyuk, Olakigbe, Brierley, Mayowa.
West Ham: Areola, Coufal, Mavropanos, Aguerd, Emerson, Soucek, Ward-Prowse (c), Bowen, Kudus, Benrahma, Antonio. Subs: Fabianski, Johnson, Cresswell, Fornals, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Kehrer, Mubama.