
As West Ham’s fans sang gleefully in the sunshine about the upcoming next stop on their European tour, seemingly unfussed by this comprehensive defeat to Brentford, David Moyes’s understudies were busy ensuring that they too will be heading to the Netherlands with only a watching brief.
With Thursday night’s Europa Conference League semi-final second leg against AZ Alkmaar on the mind and only a slender 2-1 lead to defend, Moyes made nine changes to his team here and, provided Michail Antonio can shake off a calf problem, the Scot will surely reverse the lot for the trip to Holland.