Match Preview: West Ham United v Brentford

Brentford face West Ham United at London Stadium in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Monday night (7.30pm kick-off GMT), live on TNT Sports 1.

The Bees, aiming to progress to their first quarter-final of the competition since the 1988/89 season, have defeated Sheffield Wednesday and Macclesfield to reach this stage.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the game.

Pre-match analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: How London Stadium win became blueprint for Bees' away successes

Premier League away specialists since the turn of the year, Brentford visit West Ham in the FA Cup on Monday with a place in the quarter-final up for grabs.

After safely negotiating their way past non-league giant-slayers Macclesfield in the fourth round of England's premier cup competition, the Bees travel across the capital with happy memories of their last trip east to London Stadium.

Keith Andrews' first-ever away Premier League win came against the Hammers last October, when goals from Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen earned Brentford a 2-0 victory in what was also Nuno Espírito Santo's first home game in charge of the east London outfit.

In many ways, the Bees' performance that night set the standard for Andrews and his side away from Gtech Community Stadium. Brentford dominated nearly 60 per cent of possession and fired a season-high 22 shots in an emphatic display that also saw them hit the woodwork twice, while a deft Thiago chip was ruled out for offside.

Much of Brentford's play flowed down their right flank that night, and Michael Kayode set a marker in terms of his attacking output.

Signed permanently from Fiorentina last summer, the Italian Under-21 international has established himself as one of the most athletic and progressive full-backs in the Premier League this season - and he posted some exceptional numbers in that victory over the Hammers.

Courtesy of a marauding display, Kayode became the first Brentford player ever to create six chances from open play in a Premier League match. His seven chances created overall also matched the record by an Italian player in Opta's records. Kayode and Sandro Tonali remain the standard-bearers for Italian creativity in this respect.

Those seven key passes remain the most by a defender in a 2025/26 Premier League game; only Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes (8) has managed more in a single encounter.

While Brentford will again look to exploit Kayode's strengths on Monday, West Ham will hope a game-changing talent of their own can dictate proceedings down the same flank.

West Ham (45%) may have concentrated more of their attacks down their right than any team in the top flight this season, but Crysencio Summerville has been electric down the left in recent months.

The Hammers' match-winner against League One side Burton Albion in the previous round, Summerville has scored seven goals across league and cup in 2026. Manchester City winger Antoine Semenyo and Chelsea forward João Pedro (both eight) are the only Premier League players to score more goals since the turn of the year.

Summerville combined with Jarrod Bowen to net a priceless winner for the Hammers midweek at Fulham, and Brentford will certainly need to be wary of the threat West Ham pose in wide areas.

When it comes to in-form wingers, however, there are few in better nick than the Bees' Dango Ouattara, who has been nominated for the Premier League Player of the Month after his two goals and two assists in February.

Andrews and Nuno may rotate their squads, but how their respective sides fare on the flanks is likely to shape the outcome on Monday night.

Scout report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: The 'significant turnaround' at West Ham

Even though Nuno Espírito Santo arrived at West Ham just over a month into the 2025/26 season, he already had a firefighting job on his hands.

Under Graham Potter, the Hammers had lost four of their first five Premier League games. Ironically, their only win to that point had been against Nottingham Forest - who were then managed by Nuno.

They were second-bottom then and still there a month later, having picked up just one more point from a 1-1 draw away at Everton.

Following the 2-1 defeat to Leeds at Elland Road on 24 October, Nuno told Sky Sports: “We have to change. The players know, we know. The club knows there is still time. Time can also be a bad sign if we don’t change immediately.”

Back-to-back home wins for the first time since October 2024 followed, moving West Ham to within goal difference of safety. Yet it proved to be a false dawn. They did not win any of the next 10 league games, despite taking the lead in five of them.

One of the lowest moments came on 3 January, when the Hammers were beaten 3-0 by bottom club Wolves, who had not won a league game to that point. Nuno called that performance “embarrassing.” He added: “I don’t recall one day that I felt so bad on a football pitch like today.”

Three days later, they met Forest in what was billed as a relegation six-pointer, and lost that one, too, leaving them seven points from safety.

The pressure was steadily ramping up, but it seems to have shocked them into action.

Since that day, they have played eight Premier League games and taken 14 points from them, as many as they had managed from the previous 21.

That upturn has been carried into the FA Cup, too, with extra-time wins over QPR and Burton earning a spot in the fifth round for the first time since 2022/23. A first quarter-final in a decade is potentially just 90 minutes away.

Six wins from the last 10 games in all competitions underline what has been a significant turnaround.

Opta Analyst’s predicted final Premier League table still has West Ham finishing 18th, with the probability of that happening currently standing at 49.94 per cent.

But with Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham also in the mix, there remains a real opportunity across the final nine games to secure Premier League survival, which looked increasingly unlikely at the turn of the year.

In the Dugout

Nuno Espírito Santo

Once signed by José Mourinho during his time at Porto, Nuno Espírito Santo had a long career as a goalkeeper - though often played second fiddle - primarily spent in Portugal and Spain, with time in Russia at Dynamo Moscow during 2005 and 2006.

Nuno retired in 2010, after his second spell at Porto, but quickly went on to become a goalkeeper coach at Malaga and then Panathinaikos, working with his former manager Jesualdo Ferreira each time. He returned to Portugal to take on his first managerial role with Rio Ave in the summer of 2012 and remained at the club for two years.

He was then hired by Valencia, whom he guided to a fourth-place finish in La Liga in 2014/15, though he resigned less than four months into the following campaign after three defeats in their first five Champions League group matches, as well as five wins from the first 13 league matches, which left them languishing in ninth when he departed.

Porto decided to take a chance on their former player in 2016/17, yet he only saw out half of his two-year deal as the club opted to replace him the following summer after he failed to deliver silverware, despite losing only six of his 49 games in charge.

The 52-year-old is perhaps best known for the four years he spent at Wolves. He joined the club at the end of a chaotic 2016/17 campaign - during which they had three permanent managers - and led them to promotion out of the Championship at the first time of asking. In 2019/20, Wolves recorded their joint-highest Premier League finish (7th) and their highest points tally (59), as well as reaching the quarter-final of the Europa League.

Having left Molineux by mutual consent in June 2021, Nuno went to Tottenham and started well with three-straight Premier League wins. Ultimately, he lasted only four months in the job, having followed up those victories with five defeats in the next seven.

He then spent 16 months in Saudi Arabia, guiding Al-Ittihad to the Saudi Pro League title and Saudi Super Cup, and returned to England just before Christmas 2023, having been dismissed little over a month earlier, to join Nottingham Forest.

In his first season at the City Ground, Nuno helped Forest retain their Premier League status by a margin of six points and in his one and only full season there, he guided the club to their highest finish since 1994/95 and Europe for the first time since 1995/96. He was sacked on 9 September, but signed a three-year deal at West Ham 18 days later.

The Gameplan

With Sam Tabuteau, Standard Sport

Sam Tabuteau of Standard Sport explains how West Ham are likely to line up on Monday night.

"They have a counter-attacking style, typically with a four-man defence and they will try to play into the wingers, try and attack quickly in transition," he told brentfordfc.com earlier this week.

"They are modelled on the successes Nuno has had at Forest and Wolves in the past, so their ability to be able to get the ball to Crysencio Summerville and Jarrod Bowen out wide is important."

Last starting XI v West Ham (4-5-1): Hermansen; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos, Disasi, Diouf; Bowen, Soucek, Fernandes, Magassa, Summerville; Castellanos

Match Officials

Madley in charge on Monday night

Referee: Andrew Madley

Assistants: Craig Taylor and Marc Perry

Fourth official: Will Finnie

VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis

Andrew Madley will take charge of his fourth Brentford game of the season when the Bees travel to east London on Monday night.

The Huddersfield-born official has overseen the west Londoners' visit to West Ham in the Premier League, as well as an away win at Newcastle United and goalless draw at home to Tottenham.

Across the 19 games he has refereed in 2025/26, Madley has dished out 60 yellow cards and four reds.

Last meeting

West Ham 0 Brentford 2, (Premier League, 20 October 2025)

Brentford secured their first away win of the 2025/26 season following a dominant victory against West Ham at London Stadium.

Following a series of chances, Igor Thiago finished off a move involving Yehor Yarmoliuk and Kevin Schade late in the first half.

The Bees had 22 shots throughout the game, but it wasn't until second-half stoppage-time that they got a deserved second as Keane Lewis-Potter teed up Mathias Jensen to fire into the back of the net.