Brentford in the clear as West Ham's lingering top four hopes take a knock

Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney combined to sink West Ham 2-0 and banish any lingering relegation fears for Brentford.

Two second-half goals lifted the Bees 12 points clear of the Premier League drop zone after a Sunday afternoon stroll in the London sunshine.

Mbeumo lashed in the opener after being teed up by Toney, and then returned the favour for his strike partner as Toney grabbed his 14th goal of the season.

For West Ham it was another dent in their fading hopes of a top-four finish, and they were also dealt a potentially massive blow with Thursday night’s Europa League second leg against Lyon in mind when defender Kurt Zouma was forced to limp out of the action midway through the first half.

Zouma had taken a hefty kick to the ankle from Christian Norgaard five minutes earlier and seemingly failed to shake off the knock.

Brentford were still buzzing from last weekend’s thumping 4-1 win at Chelsea and Mbeumo had the game’s first effort on target when he headed Rico Henry’s cross straight at Lukasz Fabianski.

The lively forward then tested West Ham’s Polish keeper further with a fierce drive at the near post.

Bryan Mbeumo celebrates with Kristoffer Ajer after scoring the opening goal. AFP

Then, when Fabianski punched a Christian Eriksen corner which was threatening to curl straight in, Mbeumo lashed the rebound over the crossbar.

Eriksen grew into the match as the first half wore on and his free-kick was headed narrowly over his own crossbar by Vladimir Coufal before Fabianski held the Dane’s low, skidding drive.

West Ham, perhaps showing the effect of Thursday night’s first-leg exertions, threatened only once in the opening half when Tomas Soucek headed a cross from fellow Czech Coufal into the arms of Bees keeper