Credit: Imago

Scott Mason

Sat 2 May 2026 17:15, UK

Brentford bested West Ham United 3-0, dealing a brutal blow to the Hammers’ Premier League survival hopes.

After failing to get a result, attentions will turn to Tottenham, who, with a win against Aston Villa, could now move above Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

It leaves the Hammers in a difficult predicament, with their Premier League future no longer in their hands.

The fixture against Brentford was a perfect chance to put real pressure on the Lilywhites, and the Irons may feel hard done by based on referee Craig Pawson’s decisions.

There were plenty of decisions the official got wrong in Brentford versus West Ham, including a big one in the opening goal of the game.

VAR fails to check foul on Konstantinos Mavropanos for Brentford opener

Disaster struck early for West Ham when Konstantinos Mavropanos failed to deal with a clearance properly, and ultimately Mavropanos scored into his own net after 15 minutes had been played.

The Greek defender stretched to deal with a dangerous ball that had fallen just in front of the goal line. His attempted effort would hit the bar and go into the net.

However, in that incident, there have been questions raised over whether the Greek was fouled.

Michael Kayode’s foot seemingly scraped down the defender’s shin before landing onto his foot, which kept the Hammers star on the ground in pain.

On Premier Sports’ coverage, former Crystal Palace defender Damien Delaney was “surprised” it was not even checked.

He stated: “Mavropanos gets it onto the bar, and that’s studs onto the shin and then onto the foot. I think if that happens anywhere on the football pitch and the defender gets there first, the contact is there. I’m surprised they didn’t look at it, but I think it should have been.

Pawson, however, missed the incident entirely, and VAR failed to intervene, leaving the own goal to stand.

Overall, the Irons may have reason to feel hard done by on this occasion.

Yehor Yarmolyuk escapes yellow card for cynical foul

Not long after that Mavropanos incident, Brentford’s Yehor Yarmolyuk would commit two fouls in the space of one minute in the 25th.

One of those fouls was innocuous and should not have amounted to much punishment. However, the second was quite cynical.

The Irons won the ball back at the halfway line, and Crysencio Summerville looked primed to race forward and create a moment of magic.

However, the Ukrainian, who never had a chance of winning the ball, chopped him down, with Pawson failing to brandish a yellow card for the incident.

Brentford receive a free-kick after Crysencio Summerville shirt pull

With the game already over and at 3-0, fans may not be as aggrieved at this moment, but as Summerville looked to attack, midfielder Mathias Jensen had a clear pull of the winger’s jersey.

However, referee Pawson missed the incident and, in the immediate action after, awarded a foul to the Bees for Pablo’s challenge on Yarmolyuk.

It pretty much summed up Pawson’s overall afternoon, with Brentford getting away with the small incidents, while the Irons got away with little.