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West Ham are in the midst of a striker crisis Nuno Espírito Santo‘s side failed to impress once again in their latest outing at home to Brentford.
Nuno slammed for West Ham line-up after defeat to Brentford
You’d be hard-pressed to try and remember a more uninspired home performance than West Ham’s 2-0 loss to the Bees on Monday night.
Goals from Igor Thiago and Mathias Jensen sealed the deal for Keith Andrews’ side, who dominated West Ham right from the get-go and were barely troubled all night, with Jarrod Bowen’s brilliant low-drive to the far-post coming as their only real effort of the game.
By contrast, Brentford had a whopping 17 shots, and West Ham’s much-changed defense really struggled to cope.
Olly Scarles and Kyle Walker-Peters started as full-backs on their opposing sides, with Andy Irving and Tomas Soucek given the nod by Nuno in West Ham’s engine room.
In the build up, much had been made about a potential West Ham start for youngster Callum Marshall after Niclas Füllkrug picked up a thigh injury just before the international break.
West Ham’s results in the Premier League so far |
|---|
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham |
West Ham 1-5 Chelsea |
Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham |
West Ham 0-3 Tottenham |
West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace |
Everton 1-1 West Ham |
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham |
West Ham 0-2 Brentford |
However, Nuno instead opted to play Lucas Paqueta up there instead — which hardly paid dividends as the £150,000-per-week star failed to influence proceedings and lost possession 23 times on a night to forget.
West Ham have now lost all of their opening four home league games for the first time in the club’s history, and Nuno’s team selection has been slammed following the array of questionable calls.
Paqueta’s ineffective display as the number nine, combined with Marshall’s inexperience and Callum Wilson’s torrid injury record, gives Nuno a real striking conundrum to solve.
Fullkrug is expected to be back in the next few weeks, but the German has proven that he cannot be relied upon ever since his move from Borussia Dortmund last summer.
Estimated games Niclas Füllkrug could miss for West Ham | date |
|---|---|
Leeds United (away) | October 24 |
Newcastle United (home) | November 2 |
Burnley (home) | November 8 |
The 32-year-old missed 28 games for West Ham and Germany combined last season, and his fitness woes have stretched into 2025/2026 as supporters call on David Sullivan to sign a proven goalscorer.
West Ham ‘working’ on Ivan Toney deal with striker open to join in January
According to journalist Alan Nixon, via his Patreon, there’s been some fairly good news on that front.
Nixon writes that Al-Ahli striker Ivan Toney is indeed a target for the Hammers, despite reports to the contrary.
The England international has scored for fun in the Saudi Pro League since his £40 million switch from Brentford last year, and Nixon reports that West Ham are already ‘working’ on a deal to sign Toney on loan.
The 29-year-old could also be open to the possibility as he eyes a place in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for the 2026 World Cup.
Having scored 20 Premier League goals during his best season at Brentford in 2022/2023, Toney is an undeniably proven scorer at this level and has shown no sign of letting up since his move to the Middle East.
It is also believed that West Ham could be prepared to pay a large portion of his estimate £426,000-per-week pay packet, which is a real signal of intent from Sullivan and Brady amid repeated calls for them to leave the London Stadium.
