Thomas Frank: Brentford close to a complete performance against West Ham

Thomas Frank felt that Brentford’s performance against West Ham was their best of the season after goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney were sure to dispel any lingering fears of relegation.

The Bees’ dynamic attacking duo sank lackluster West Ham 2-0 to move 12 points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

Brentford shocked Chelsea 4-1 at Stamford Bridge last weekend, but head coach Frank felt the performance against the Hammers was even better.

“I think it was close to a full performance,” he said. “It was the first time all season that we more or less controlled the game from minute one to 90.

“Winning 2-0 against a very good team, a team in the Europa League quarter-finals and fighting for the top four, and restricting them to just five shots, that’s ‘wow’ to me.

“I am very proud of the performance, possibly even more complete than Chelsea’s. The way we did it shows how far we’ve come.

“It’s a combination of a great performance and a good win, that’s what’s important. Of course I looked at the table, but I want to focus on the next game.”

After a subdued first half, it took just two minutes for the second to come to life as Brentford took a quick throw-in.

Toney passed the ball to Mbeumo, who lobbed the ball low into the net from the angle.

Mbeumo returned the favor to Toney in the 64th minute for Brentford’s second.

Yoann Wissa sent Rico Henry down the left and his cross was first directed at Toney’s head from six yards out.

West Ham’s hopes of a top four finish are fading but they still have a shot at winning the Europa League to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

However, their hopes of overcoming Lyon in Thursday’s second leg suffered a serious blow when defender Kurt Zouma limped off with a sprained ankle.

“Him leaving is not a good sign,” manager David Moyes admitted.

The Scotsman felt this was too far a match for his ever-expanding squad.

“It was disappointing, but maybe playing Thursday and Sunday caught up with us,” he added. “We lacked intensity and we barely made chances.

“It was a very low level game in the first half, but we gave them an advantage in the second with a really poor goal and poor quality from our point of view.”