Brentford’s excellent start to life in the Premier League is making the football world sit up and take notice of them, says Bees boss Thomas Frank.
Yoane Wissa scored an added-time winner as Frank’s side moved up to seventh in the table with a dramatic 2-1 London derby victory at West Ham United.
“Outside of London, outside of west London, maybe no-one in the world knows who we are,” said Frank.
“So we need to show them with good performances on the pitch. I think we’re a good story. I believed we could do something in the Premier League, I knew we would be strong defensively, press forward and be aggressive.
“I also knew we’d try to be brave, that’s my biggest message to the players. We are proud, but I think it’s also a truly deserved 12 points.”
Wissa, who got a late equaliser against Liverpool eight days ago, drove in a powerful shot with virtually the last kick of the game after the Hammers, who missed an opportunity to go level on points with both Manchester clubs, failed to clear a set-piece.
It came at the end of a contest in which the visitors dominated early on and deservedly led, with Bryan Mbeumo sweeping in from close range after Sergi Canos’ effort was parried by home goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.
However, after the break, Brentford appeared to run out of steam and was forced to dig deep to repel a West Ham onslaught.
Jarrod Bowen spurned a glorious chance to level when heading Vladimir Coufal’s cross wide and the Czech Republic full-back was also superbly denied an equaliser by Bees goalkeeper David Raya’s sprawling save.
The home fans at London Stadium erupted in joy when Bowen eventually drove a low effort into the bottom right corner to equalise – only to be stunned as Wissa’s late strike turned one point into three for the enterprising visitors.
“I want to be challenging at the top, so we have to win the games and I’m disappointed because we should have won the game today,” said West Ham manager David Moyes.
“It shouldn’t even have been a draw, we should have won the game with the opportunities we had.”
In the build-up to the game much was made of the potency of West Ham’s attack, with Bowen, Said Benrahma and Michail Antonio playing prominent roles in their side’s fine start to the campaign.
However, Mbeumo and Ivan Toney arguably eclipsed the Hammers’ front three, exhibiting the movement, pace and quality that has already stretched several established top-flight defences this term.
Frank will be especially proud of the way his side overcame Vitaly Janelt’s withdrawal in the warm-up and the further inconvenience of Shandon Baptiste’s first-half shoulder injury to secure victory in their first meeting with West Ham for 28 years.
The warning signs were there early on for the hosts, Mbeumo clipping the hosts’ crossbar and heading wide from Rico Henry’s pinpoint delivery inside the first four minutes – moments that had Hammers boss Moyes patrolling his technical area barking instructions to his players.
Toney also tested Fabianski with a close-range effort then brilliantly contributed to the opening goal, playing a delightful pass to Canos to split open the home defence.
It was certainly a far cry from Thursday’s Europa League victory over Rapid Vienna for West Ham when the hosts – albeit with largely different personnel – had looked so assured.
It was a different story after the break, though, as West Ham pressed forward and looked more likely to grab a late winner after their equaliser.
But, 12 minutes after entering the action, Wissa came up with a knockout blow for a team and a club making a name for themselves.
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