BRYAN MBEUMO AND Ivan Toney combined to sink West Ham 2-0 and surely 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 west 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.
The France international, still roundly booed by opposition fans following his cat-kicking video shame, left the field to a chorus of ‘put him down’ from the Bees supporters.
Brentford were still buzzing from last weekend’s thumping 4-1 win at Chelsea and Mbeumo got his reward two minutes into the second half when he latched on to Toney’s clever flick and lashed a fierce angled shot past Fabianski.
It was the French forward’s fourth goal of the season and his first since December.
Moyes sent on Said Benrahma to face his old club, but before the Algerian could get a meaningful touch, Brentford doubled their advantage with a slick move.
Yoane Wissa fed Henry down the left and the full-back’s cross was steered back across goal by Mbeumo for Toney to head in the simplest of finishes and wrap up a deserved win.
Elsewhere, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall inspired Leicester to a narrow 2-1 Premier League win over Crystal Palace.
The midfielder’s first Premier League goal came after a sublime assist for Ademola Lookman’s opener to give the Foxes the perfect preparation for Thursday’s trip to PSV.
They go to Eindhoven for their Europa Conference League quarter-final second leg with the tie poised at 0-0 but have momentum after just two defeats in their last 10 outings.
Kasper Schmeichel saved two Wilfried Zaha penalties – after VAR ordered a retake – only for the striker to nod in the rebound from the second which gave Palace second-half hope.
But a leveller never came and the Foxes move above Palace to ninth in the Premier League. The Eagles saw a seven-game unbeaten run come to an end, which had propelled them to Wembley for next week’s FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.
The game needed a flashpoint – which finally came six minutes before the break when Leicester grabbed the lead. James Justin nipped in to pinch Marc Guehi’s pass off Zaha and Tielemans found Dewsbury-Hall whose excellent pass picked out Lookman to cut inside Andersen and drill past Guaita.
It then got better for the Foxes just before the break when they doubled their advantage. Guehi allowed Justin’s hopeful ball under his foot and Patson Daka seized on the chance.
He crossed for Dewsbury-Hall on the edge of the area and the midfielder engineered space by holding off Cheikhou Koyate before brilliantly firing in his third goal of the season.
Palace were handed a lifeline in the 64th minute when Tielemans brought down Jordan Ayew in the area. Zaha’s awful penalty was saved low to his left by Schmeichel only for VAR to order a retake because the goalkeeper encroached.
Again Zaha stepped up and produced a wretched spot kick which Schmeichel stopped but the ball bounced kindly for the striker to nod in the rebound.
Palace, though, were unable to conjure a leveller despite a couple of scrambles and Leicester saw them game out.
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