An early Kevin Schade goal secured a 1-0 win for Brentford against West Ham United at London Stadium, as the Bees secured a third consecutive away victory for the first time in the Premier League.
Goal-line technology confirmed that Schade opened the scoring in the fourth minute, as the west Londoners dominated the first half in east London. The hosts improved in the second period, but a resolute display from Thomas Frank's side secured a clean sheet on Saturday afternoon.
Brentford made one change from the side that lost 2-0 to Tottenham two weeks ago at Gtech Community Stadium in the last game, with Mark Flekken returning from injury to replace Hákon Valdimarsson in goal.
And the visitors took the lead inside four minutes thanks to a combination of the Bees' front three, when a ball over the top from Yoane Wissa was flicked on by Bryan Mbeumo into the path of Schade.
The legs of Alphonse Areola saved the left-winger's initial shot, clawing away a second attempt with the ball looping back over him and towards goal, before it appeared that the keeper had fantastically kept out a third attempt. However, the referee confirmed Schade's effort had crossed the line and, despite a VAR delay as they checked an offside, the away supporters could finally, properly, celebrate the visitors going ahead.
Mbeumo had a chance to make it 2-0 with 20 minutes on the clock after another incisive pass through the Hammers' defence played the attacker in on goal. A trademark dribble before cutting inside on his left foot followed, but Areola's feet stopped the powerful drive.
It was all Brentford and the west Londoners thought they had doubled their lead. A poor pass from Lucas Paquetá fell straight to Mbeumo, who slid in Mikkel Damsgaard, who couldn't meet the pass as he slid towards goal. Wissa pounced on the loose ball and poked home from close range, but the linesman quickly raised his flag for offside.
It was the Bees again who were inches away from another as, after a promising-looking West Ham attack, Damsgaard picked up the ball and fed it through to Schade, who used his pace to race in on goal. He fired an effort towards the bottom-left corner, but it clipped the left post and went wide.
The ball was in the back of the West Ham net again but, this time, VAR ruled it out, five minutes before half-time. Some neat play from Vitaly Janelt on the edge of the box saw him play a one-two with Kristoffer Ajer, before the ball was clipped into Wissa, who cooly finished inside the six-yard box. However, Ajer was in an offside position when he received the ball and played it back to his team-mate.
Mbeumo had the final chance of the half when he was played through by Keane Lewis-Potter in added time, but he lashed wide from 20 yards out.
Mohammed Kudus had a golden chance to level just a few minutes into the second half when one of three half-time substitutes, Evan Ferguson, drove down the right and crossed towards the centre. The Ghanaian met the ball inside the six-yard box but he blazed his shot well over the bar from close range.
Another of the substitutes, Ollie Scarles, almost levelled a couple of minutes later, when a corner was cleared to him on the edge of the box. The 19-year-old hit it first time, with his effort heading straight for the top corner, but Sepp van den Berg was on hand to get his head in the way and divert it from danger.
After his heroic clearance, van den Berg was worryingly taken off due to an injury soon after, having gone down in a collision with Jarrod Bowen.
A free-kick on the edge of the box looked like perfect territory for James Ward-Prowse, who is one free-kick goal behind David Beckham's Premier League record, but he laid it off for Paquetá right on the edge of the box, with the Brazilian flashing his effort just wide.
With Brentford in complete control of the first half, the Hammers really pushed in the second period, with Ferguson having one of the hosts' better chances with 10 minutes to play, as he swivelled and shot inside the area, but Flekken got down and held the ball well.
The Bees looked dangerous on the break and, with Mathias Jensen leading a counter attack, the Dane's reverse pass into Lewis-Potter saw the winger in space out wide, but his whipped effort went straight down the throat of Areola.
With time running out for Graham Potter's side, Scarles must have had déjà vu as the ball fell to him just outside the area after a clearance from a corner - and, unfortunately for the teenager, the result was similar to the first, as his shot flew over the crossbar and ensured the Bees secured a clean sheet and all three points in east London.
West Ham: Areola; Wan-Bissaka, Mavropanos (Guilherme 88), Kilman, Emerson (Scarles 46); Álvarez, Souček (Ward-Prowse 46); Soler (Ferguson 46), Kudus, Bowen; Paquetá
Subs not used: Foderingham, Cresswell, Rodríguez, Todibo, Irving
Brentford: Flekken; Ajer, Collins, van den Berg (Pinnock 60), Lewis-Potter; Damsgaard (Kayode 90+1), Nørgaard, Janelt (Yarmoliuk 75); Mbeumo, Wissa (Carvalho 90+1), Schade (Jensen 75)
Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Mee, Konak, Maghoma
Attendance: 62,467
Frank on a 'very good win' over West Ham
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has described the Bees' performance at London Stadium as "very impressive", as they secured a win at West Ham.
Frank stated: “It was a very good win. It was a very impressive first half; a really, really top-level and complete control and dominance.
“The only complaint was that we weren’t out of sight: we should have been at least 3-0 up, two disallowed goals, one marginal offside, Kevin [Schade] hit the post, six or seven big moments, like [Yoane] Wissa’s where he was through but couldn’t quite get a connection.
“The second half was more even but we were fairly in control, even though we had to defend a bit more. We gave a good chance to [Mohammed] Kudus but, other than that, there was no real threat.
“Big credit to the team for digging in - I would’ve liked the second goal to kill the game, but we got over the line with a 1-0 and a good clean sheet.”
Ajer: Fantastic clean sheet
Kristoffer Ajer was pleased with the way the Bees "stuck in" to secure a clean sheet and three points on Saturday.
“To keep a clean sheet away from home in the Premier League is always fantastic," said the defender.
“We started the game so well and we should have been a few more goals up [at half-time]. We have to give credit to them, they were good in the second half but we held strong.
“We knew that the second half was going to be tough but we stuck in and got the three points."