West Ham’s long-awaited victory ‘can drive the team on’

Angelo Ogbonna believes West Ham’s battling FA Cup win over Brentford will boost their stuttering Premier League form.

Said Benrahma scored a wonder strike against his old club with 11 minutes remaining to settle a turgid third-round tie 1-0.

It was the Hammers’ first domestic win since October, a run which has seen them slip to 17th in the table, and provided a small measure of revenge after a 2-0 home defeat against the Bees in the league last week.

“The feeling of winning is unbelievable and the finish was amazing from Said,” said Italian defender Ogbonna.

“We played well but in the last couple of games we also played well – and even the match against them at home we played well.

“This is a good boost and I hope this victory can drive the team on. Everyone wants the best for this club.

“We used to do this last season but sometimes in football it’s not normal to win easy games with possession. Sometimes even stronger teams win games in an awful way.

“Maybe for the fans it wasn’t a nice game. The pitch didn’t help up but at least we showed West Ham are back. It was really good. It’s something that can help us in the next games.”

Brentford were without top scorer Ivan Toney, who left the field at the London Stadium on a stretcher nine days ago.

But boss Thomas Frank says his 13-goal striker should be fit for the visit of Bournemouth next weekend.

“He’s good. We expect him to train fully on the pitch on Monday or Tuesday, so it shouldn’t be an issue for Saturday,” said Frank.

The Bees caused a buzz this week by signing Romeo Beckham, the son of former England captain David, on a six-month loan from Inter Miami.

The 20-year-old winger has been training with the club for a few weeks and will initially link up with their B team.

“I think he’s an interesting player,” added Frank. “We hope, of course, like a lot of players in the B team that he can make it to the first team. He’s promising.”