BRENTFORD
Premier League, Gtech Community Stadium, Saturday 28 September 2024, 3pm BST
West Ham United travel to west London to take on Brentford – our sixth consecutive Premier League derby to kick-off the 2024/25 season.
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 Thomas Frank has since helped establish the west Londoners in the top tier, finishing 13th with 46 points in 2021/22, ninth with a record-high 59 points in 2022/23, and 16th with 39 points last season.
How to get there…
Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium is usually well served by public transport, with a number of railway and Underground stations within walking distance. However, a number of TfL services are suspended in the area, limiting your options.
The nearest mainline station is Kew Bridge, which is in Zone 3 on the South Western Railway line from London Waterloo and Clapham Junction.
London Underground District line services between Turnham Green and Richmond, which usually serve Gunnersbury and Chiswick Park, are suspended, as are London Overground services between South Acton and Richmond, meaning Gunnersbury station is also not an option.
The good news is that there are two other nearby London Underground stations within a 20-minute walk – Acton Town (District and Piccadilly lines) and South Ealing (Piccadilly line).
Further afield, the Overground is also suspended between Stratford and Camden Road, while the London Underground Metropolitan line is entirely closed on Saturday.
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…
The Gtech Community Stadium has not been a happy hunting ground for West Ham United in the Premier League, with three defeats from three visits since our first trip to the Bees’ new home in April 2022.
However, we have won at the Gtech, as former Brentford winger Saïd Benrahma scored two winners to secure a pre-season victory in July 2021 and an FA Cup third-round success in January 2023.
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.
Our biggest ever away win at Brentford was at Griffin Park in March 1953, when Irish striker Tommy Moroney and winger Harry Hooper each scored twice in a 4-1 Second Division success.
