West Ham United v Brentford
Premier League, London Stadium, Saturday 15 February 2025, 3pm GMT
West Ham United return to London Stadium to host Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
The Hammers will be hoping to return from a 12-day break with a second home three-point haul of the Graham Potter era, having had some additional time on the training ground to put his squad through their paces ahead of a second consecutive London derby.
Next up is a home clash against Brentford, with the Bees currently sitting five places above West Ham in the top-flight standings, in eleventh, with nine wins and 31 points from their 24 outings so far in 2024/25 - their fourth consecutive season in the Premier League under Danish manager Thomas Frank.
Despite falling to defeat four times in 2025, including to Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup third round, Frank will have taken plenty of encouragement from wins over Southampton and Crystal Palace in the league, as the Bees target a second top-half Premier League finish in three seasons.
The sides last met in September in the reverse fixture at Gtech Community Stadium, where they claimed a share of the spoils in an enthralling 1-1 draw. The Hammers previously earned a first-ever Premier League win over Brentford in this home fixture in February 2024, as Jarrod Bowen’s first West Ham hat-trick secured an entertaining 4-2 win at London Stadium last season.
All signs point to another enticing match-up at the London Stadium then, with Head Coach Potter seeking a victory that could see his West Ham rise one or two places in the Premier League table.
Tickets…
Tickets for this sold-out game are still available on the Ticket Exchange, with Season Ticket Holders who cannot attend this fixture relisting their seats for other supporters to buy. Click HERE to check availability or relist.
Travel…
There are no planned disruptions to TfL Underground services on Central, Jubilee, Circle, District, Metropolitan and Northern lines, and the Docklands Light Railway, although there are set to be issues on Piccadilly and Bakerloo line services. Supporters using these services are highly recommended to check their routes before departure.
However, there will be no service on the Elizabeth line between Paddington and Abbey Wood/Shenfield. Replacement buses will operate non-stop for Service C: Stratford to Romford and Service D: Newbury Park (for Central line) to Shenfield.
There are also planned engineering works between Liverpool Street and Barking and between Laindon and Pitsea on the c2c mainline, while on Greater Anglia, services are affected between Shenfield and London, and buses will replace trains between Ingatestone/Shenfield and Newbury Park Central line station.
On Southeastern, there are planned engineering works between London Charing Cross, London Victoria and Hayes (Kent).
Stratford and Stratford City Bus Stations are located in close proximity to Stratford station. Buses that run to these stations are numbers: 25, 86, 97, 104, 108, 158, 241, 257, 262, 276, 308, 425, 473, D8.
Supporters using public transport are advised to check their journeys before they travel, using resources such as TfL’s Journey Planner and the TfL Go app. Supporters may also wish to visit the National Rail website if travelling on the rail network.
There is no parking available at London Stadium. Restrictions will be in place and enforced in the local area.
How To Follow…
Saturday’s 3pm kick-off will NOT be broadcast live in the UK, but will be shown across the world by the Premier League’s international broadcast partners. If you live outside the UK, click HERE for details of Premier League listings in your territory.
You can follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app, and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle on our website and social media.
Live audio commentary will be available in the UK on BBC Radio London, and worldwide on our official website and app.
Official Programme…
Our 15th issue of the season is led by an extensive interview with Lucas Paquetá, who discusses his enjoyment at playing under new Head Coach Graham Potter. The Brazilian features on the striking programme cover, which has been created by illustrator Matthew Brazier.
We also have Bowen's captain's column, words from Head Coach Potter and Steve Blowers’ chat with former Hammers full-back John McDowell, as we continue celebrating the 50th anniversary of our 1975 FA Cup win. There's exciting features with Aaron Cresswell and Tomáš Souček, exclusive columns galore, stats and in-depth analysis from Analytics United, too!
We're marking the 40th anniversary of popular BBC soap opera EastEnders with an interview with actor Nick 'Wicksy' Berry, and looking back on the many Hammers who have played roles in the show since 1985.
With the latest news from our Academy, women’s team and Foundation, plus puzzles, statistics and the lowdown on our opponents from west London, the Official Programme is packed full of content for you!
Pride Of Irons...
As we take on Brentford, we also spotlight the work of the Club's LGBTQ+ supporters' group Pride of Irons, who are celebrating their tenth anniversary in February 2025.
Pride of Irons is a safe, welcoming and fun space for all LGBTQ+ individuals and allies in the West Ham United fanbase, where you can fully express yourself and your love of the Hammers and football.
Founded in 2015, the supporters’ group is celebrating its tenth birthday. Over the past decade, Pride Of Irons has worked tirelessly with aim of ensuring that West Ham United remains an environment free of hate, and is committed to being a driving force in tackling hate both on and off the pitch.
To mark the occasion of its tenth birthday, founder Jim Dolan and Chair Jo Bailey have written for the Official Programme.
Team News…
Deadline-day signing Evan Ferguson could be in line to make his Hammers debut in attack, while James Ward-Prowse could make his first appearance of the season in Claret and Blue, having spent the first half of the campaign at Nottingham Forest.
Skipper Jarrod Bowen made his welcome return from injury for the Hammers at Chelsea last time out and will be hungry to score his 50th Premier League goal, given he is currently just one short of that milestone.
Michail Antonio, Niclas Füllkrug and Crysencio Summerville (both hamstring) remain on the sidelines, but Edson Álvarez, Lucas Paquetá and Jean-Clair Todibo have all returned to training at Rush Green.
Head Coach Graham Potter will be facing the media at his pre-match press conference scheduled for 13.30 (UK) on Thursday 13 February, where the boss will provide all the latest team news updates.
For Brentford, Josh Dasilva, Gustavo Nunes, Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey and Igor Thiago are expected to miss out.
Opposition…
Few clubs represent the modern-day Premier League better than Brentford.
The Bees are owned by former hedge fund manager, sports gambling entrepreneur and boyhood supporter Matthew Benham, who favours an analytics-based approach to recruitment that has served the west London club sensationally well since he took over in 2012.
In the 12-plus years since Benham took control, Brentford have won promotion from EFL League One, moved to a smart new stadium, won promotion from the EFL Championship and established themselves as a Premier League club.
Brentford’s ongoing success has been based around stability in the dugout, with Danish manager Thomas Frank having been in charge since 2018, and ongoing success in renewing the players Frank sends onto the pitch.
Similar to the approach followed by his former boss and Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom, Benham has based Brentford’s progression on using statistics and performance analysis to find and recruit players at affordable transfer fees who Frank and his staff could then develop with the twin aims of bringing both success and lucrative sell-on fees to the club.
Among the players who have passed through Brentford’s ranks in recent seasons have been England strikers Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney, Spain goalkeeper David Raya and former West Ham United winger Saïd Benrahma.
While those players, and others, have departed, Benham’s staff – most notably Director of Football and former quantitative analyst Phil Giles and Technical Director Lee Dykes – have continued to recruit players from all over the world.
Brentford’s current first-team squad consists of 28 players drawn from 16 different countries, led by three Danes, including captain Christian Nørgaard, two Brazilians, two Dutchmen, two Germans, an Icelander, an Irishman and a Ukrainian.
Having seemingly made themselves a permanent Premier League fixture, the challenge for Benham’s Brenford is to emulate Bloom’s Brighton and keep progressing.
The Seagulls finished sixth in the Premier League table in 2022/23 before reaching the UEFA Europa League round of 16 last season.
The Bees finished ninth in the Premier League table in 2022/23 but, with Toney banned for the first half of 2023/24 due to betting breaches, could only manage 16th last season.
This season, with Toney having departed to Saudi Arabia, two of Brentford’s astutely sourced forwards have stepped up to fill the void. Cameroonian Bryan Mbeumo, signed for £5.8million from Troyes in 2019, and Congolese Yoane Wissa, recruited from Lorient for £8.5million in 2021, have scored 24 Premier League goals between them.
Meanwhile, Danish attacking midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard, Dutch goalkeeper Mark Flekken and Irish defender Nathan Collins have also performed well so that, just past the season’s halfway point, the Bees could claim a second top-half Premier League finish in three seasons.
Previous Meetings…
West Ham edge their head-to-head record with Brentford, having won 24 of the teams’ meetings to the Bees’ 20, while there have been 12 draws, including the 1-1 stalemate in the teams’ reverse meeting at the Gtech Community Stadium in September.
Saturday’s game will be just the eighth Premier League fixture between the two clubs. Last season, each outfit won on their home patch, with Hammers captain Bowen netting in the November 2023 3-2 defeat in west London before notching the first hat-trick of his career in a 4-2 triumph at London Stadium.
Prior to the Bees’ Premier League promotion in 2021, the most-recent meetings came back in the 1992/93 season, when both clubs were in the old First Division (now the Championship).
West Ham were promoted that season, having drawn 0-0 at Brentford's old Griffin Park stadium before thrashing the Bees 4-0 at the Boleyn Ground, where Martin Allen, Peter Butler, Trevor Morley and Kevin Keen got the goals for Billy Bonds' Hammers.
Our first-ever meeting came all the way back on 11 September 1897, when Thames Ironworks FC, as we were then known, won a London League fixture 1-0 at the Memorial Grounds, with Scotsman Jimmy Reid getting the only goal of the game in front of 1,000 spectators.
Match Officials...
Referee: Darren England
Assistant Referees: James Mainwaring and Akil Howson
Fourth Official: Stephen Martin
VAR: Graham Scott
Assistant VAR: Nick Greenhalgh
Darren England will referee Saturday’s Premier League derby between West Ham United and Brentford at London Stadium.
The 39-year-old has been part of Professional Game Match Officials Limited’s (PGMOL) Select Group One since the start of the 2020/21 season.
This weekend’s visit of the Bees will mark the seventh occasion England has been the man in the middle for a West Ham fixture.
The first was an EFL Cup defeat at Everton in September 2020, while the most recent was the 2-2 home Premier League draw with Burnley in March 2024. In between, he was the referee for Brentford’s 2-0 Premier League win at London Stadium in December 2022.
England has also acted as fourth official for ten Premier League matches involving the Hammers, and Video Assistant Referee for five, including four this season.
Previously, Doncaster-born England has also refereed the 2017 EFL League Two Play-Off final between Blackpool and Exeter City, in the EFL Championship, FA Cup, EFL Cup and in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Conference League qualifying.
For more information about the officials, click HERE.
