Staff Reporter.
Brentford delivered a huge blow to West Ham’s top-four hopes as the Bees moved further clear of the relegation places with victory in west London.
Second-half goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Ivan Toney saw Thomas Frank’s side climb to 13th in the table, 12 points clear of the relegation places, to all but confirm their Premier League safety.
Mbeumo fired in from Toney’s pass shortly after half-time, before turning provider for his team-mate as Toney headed in after 64 minutes.
The hosts had appeared the more likely to break the deadlock before half-time, but the heavily-involved Mbeumo headed at Lukasz Fabianski and also saw a powerful strike pushed away by the West Ham goalkeeper.
The visitors managed only one shot on target – a first-half Tomas Soucek header – in a subdued display, while Kurt Zouma was forced off early with an ankle problem ahead of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final second leg in Lyon.
West Ham remain sixth, six points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham in the race for Champions League football, having also played a game more than Spurs.
Meanwhile Leicester continued their fine run of recent form as homegrown talent Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall played a starring role in a hard-earned win over Crystal Palace.
The Foxes started slowly at the King Power Stadium but Dewsbury-Hall carved Palace open with a superb ball for Ademola Lookman to fire home, before whipping his own finish high into the net six minutes later.
The 23-year-old’s moments of quality proved telling in a fixture both sides could have been forgiven for looking past given their mid-table status and with key cup fixtures in the coming week.
Palace – who missed early chances through Wilfried Zaha, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Joachim Andersen – refused to give in after the break and Youri Tielemans’ foul on Jordan Ayew in the penalty area offered them a route back into the match.
Zaha saw his penalty saved and when VAR pointed to encroachment in the area by home defender Caglar Soyuncu, his retaken penalty was also palmed away by Kasper Schmeichel, only for the Ivory Coast international to head in the rebound.
It prompted a spirited 10 minutes from Palace – who went close through a Jeffrey Schlupp flick – but their seven-game unbeaten run ends. Leicester now have four wins and a draw from their past six league games – form that lifts them to ninth in the table, one place above the beaten visitors.
Elsewhere Bottom club Norwich City kept alive their slim hopes of avoiding a quick-fire return to the Championship and dealt a blow to fellow strugglers Burnley with a crucial win at Carrow Road.