Said Benrahma marked his latest return to Brentford with a brilliant winner as West Ham reached the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Benrahma came off the bench to settled the tie with a brilliant strike on 79 minutes to lift Hammers spirits with their first victory since beating FCSB in a Europa Conference League dead rubber at the start of November.
David Moyes made only four changes to the side that had halted a run of five straight Premier League defeats with the midweek draw at Leeds, the likes of Declan Rice, Lucas Paqueta and Jarrod Bowen all included in a strong lineup.
Thomas Frank, meanwhile, brought seven new faces into his XI following Monday’s superb win over Liverpool, with defender Kristoffer Ajer making his return from the knee injury that has kept him out since the end of October.
Yoanne Wissa, on the scoresheet against the Reds, missed the only clear-cut chance of a first-half played in horrendous conditions, denied at close-quarters by Lukasz Fabianski after latching onto Keane Lewis-Potter’s low cross.
Tomas Soucek ought to have put the visitors ahead moments after the restart, steering wide from eight yards when found by Emerson’s low pull-back, before the Italian’s deep free-kick found an unmarked Craig Dawson at the back-post but bounced awkwardly in front of the centre-half, who could not connect properly on the stretch.
Lewis-Potter threatened with a looping header before making way for new signing Kevin Schade, the German making his debut after signing from Freiburg earlier this week in a deal that will eventually make him the club’s record signing.
It was a West Ham change that proved decisive, however, with Benrahma sent on as the tie seemed to be drifting towards a replay. Declan Rice’s fine challenge on Wissa stole possession in midfield and Benrahma strode forward to lash past Thomas Strakosha from range.
