BRENTFORD
Premier League, Gtech Community Stadium, Saturday 4 November 2023, 3pm GMT
West Ham United travel 20 stops around the London Overground from Stratford (or Hackney Wick) to Gunnersbury to take on Brentford in the Premier League.
Opened in September 2020, the Bees’ smart 17,250-capacity Gtech Community Stadium initially hosted EFL Championship fixtures without supporters present due to the COVID pandemic, with Brentford playing a home game in front of fans there for the first time when drawing 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers on 5 December 2020.
Since then, Brentford have celebrated an historic promotion to the Premier League, finishing third in the Championship before defeating Swansea City 2-0 in the 2021 Play-Off final.
Dane Frank has since helped establish the west Londoners in the top tier, finishing 13th with 46 points in 2021/22, before losing just nine times on the way to finishing ninth with a record-high 59 points last term.
How to get there…
Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium is well served by public transport, with a number of railway and Underground stations within walking distance.
The nearest station is Kew Bridge, which is in Zone 3 on the South Western Railway line from London Waterloo and Clapham Junction.
An alternative route is via Gunnersbury, which is a ten-minute walk east of the stadium and is served by the London Underground District line and London Overground, the latter direct from Stratford and Hackney Wick.
There are other nearby London Underground stations within a 20-minute walk – Chiswick Park (District line), Acton Town (District and Piccadilly lines) and South Ealing (Piccadilly line).
Where to stay…
If you are travelling to the game from outside the capital or fancy staying in west London for a night or two, there are literally thousands of hotels, guest houses, apartments and more to choose from all over the city if you need overnight accommodation.
If you would like to stay near the stadium, Brentford is served by at least three well-known branded hotels, as well as a number of independent accommodation options.
If you fancy something a little more upmarket, there are some lovely hotels and guesthouses across the River Thames in Kew and Richmond.
What to do…
London, of course, has attractions for all the family and to suit all budgets and tastes.
While the capital’s top tourist spots are well-known, we will concentrate instead on things to do in and around this particular area of west London.
The most famous attraction, by far, is the Royal Botanic Gardens, just across Kew Bridge on the south bank of the River Thames, which opened in 1759 and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Open from 10am-7pm, you can book tickets in advance from £13.50 for Adults and £5 for Children aged 4-15. Inside, you can view one of the largest living plant collections in the world and a host of historic buildings, including the Temperate House, Palm House and Great Pagoda.
What’s happened there before…
This will be just our fifth visit to Gtech Community Stadium, and fourth for a competitive fixture.
West Ham United have yet to win a Premier League match at Brentford, losing 2-0 in each of the previous two seasons.
However, prior to that, former Bee Saïd Benrahma scored two winners to secure a pre-season victory in July 2021 and FA Cup third-round success in January this year.
The Gtech is the fifth different Brentford home West Ham have visited, following Shotters Field, Cross Roads, York Road and Griffin Park, which the Bees vacated in August 2020.
