West Ham slump to defeat at home to Brentford as fans stage boycott

West Ham fans picked the right night to stage a boycott as their side slumped to a dispiriting 2-0 defeat at home to Brentford.

Goals from Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen were enough to secure a first away win of the season for Brentford, who should have won by a lot more.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s first home match in charge coincided with a planned  stay-away organised by supporters’ groups in protest against the club’s board.

It seemed as though West Ham’s defence had also not bothered turning up in what was an alarmingly poor display.

On the day Graham Potter – sacked by the Hammers last month – was named as the new manager of Sweden, his replacement got a stark illustration of the mess he has been left with.

West Ham have now lost their first four home matches of a season for the first time in their history, and have won only twice at the London Stadium all year.

There were thousands of empty seats around the cavernous ground, and those who stayed away also missed a curious home starting line-up including a rare sighting of Andy Irving.

The 25-year-old Scottish midfielder was handed a full home debut, a mere 780 days after he signed for the club from Austria Klagenfurt.

Nuno also dropped one of their better performers in El Hadji Malick Diouf while naming two strikers – Callum Wilson and Callum Marshall – on the bench with Lucas Paqueta in attack.

It was the Brazilian who played in Jarrod Bowen for an early opportunity, but the Hammers skipper’s shot across goal curled all the way out for a throw-in.

Brentford soon began preying on West Ham’s defensive frailties, not least their inability to defend set-pieces.

First Jordan Henderson swung in a free-kick which Nathan Collins headed just over, before Thiago grazed the