West Ham go to Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon after putting the finishing touches to their preparations at Rush Green on Friday.

Pressure is already mounting at an alarming rate on West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui.

After heavy defeats to Chelsea and Liverpool in the last week, Brentford away flips the script for the Hammers.

No game in the Premier League is ever easy. But this is now a game West Ham are expected to win.

Justifiable excuses have been wheeled out by Lopetegui about West Ham’s tough fixture list so far.

Brentford is a winnable game for West Ham, though, home or away.

Especially as the Bees are said to be without as many as eight first team players for the clash.

With just one Premier League win to his name in five so far, Lopetegui needs a victory to quieten the noise around West Ham.

The Spaniard has been savaged by the media and the board have left him under no illusions that things must improve.

The problem is Brentford have had the better of West Ham in this fixture since they were promoted to the top flight.

There have been six league games between the Hammers and Bees since they came up in 2021.

Brentford have won five of them to West Ham’s one with an aggregate score of 10-7.

West Ham’s solitary win so far came in the last encounter between the London rivals as the Irons triumphed 4-2 at the London Stadium back in February.

It looked like the penny may have dropped for West Ham at Liverpool in midweek.

The Hammers were on top for spells and were desperately unlucky to be losing when Edson Alvarez was sent off in the second half.

While the collapse was concerning, there were glimpses of promise in the performance.

Lopetegui will be hoping to carry that into the game at Brentford.

West Ham had their final training session before the match at Rush Green on Friday.

Here’s three big things spotted in West Ham training for Brentford as confusion reigns over star.

Three Big Things Spotted In West Ham Training For Brentford As Confusion Reigns Over Star

Arguably the most impressive of West Ham’s summer signings was centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo.

The Hammers beat Italian giants Juventus to bring the former Barcelona man to east London.

It was quite the coup given he was reportedly coveted by a number of top clubs, including Man United who were blocked from signing him.

But after all the hype, the Frenchman is yet to start a Premier League game for West Ham.

When he did get a start, in the Carabao Cup against Bournemouth, he looked understandably rusty and was hauled off by Lopetegui at half-time.

Todibo’s lack of action has perplexed many supporters – and even the club’s owners.

Not least because of the error-prone performances of Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Todibo joined West Ham on loan from Nice with an obligation to buy which is triggered if he makes five league starts.

Todibo Set To Start

One look at West Ham’s training pictures ahead of Brentford suggests the first of those will be this weekend.

Lopetegui hinted Todibo will start the game after saying he felt the 24-year-old played well at Liverpool. That’s not entirely accurate from the manager as Todibo divided opinion with a Jekyll and Hyde performance.

He was excellent in the first half but woeful during West Ham’s collapse. He was slammed by the likes of Jamie Carragher, Kevin Nolan and Jamie Redknapp for showing a lack of bravery by turning his back on a shot as Liverpool increased their lead.

Todibo is seen all smiles in training while Mavropanos was wearing a rather more glib expression.

Fullkrug's Injury

Overnight Hammers News exclusively revealed some bad news about Niclas Fullkrug.

Lopetegui claims the German has been back training this week.

Fullkrug has missed the last three games with an Achilles and calf injury. That’s despite claims elsewhere he would only miss Fulham.

When news of the injury was first reported, it was suggested he could face up to six weeks out for recovery.

And that is now looking like being the case.

The top spokesman inside the club has confirmed Fullkrug will be missing until after the October international break.

Although not every single player is pictured in West Ham’s training gallery, if Fullkrug was involved with team training you would expect the club to highlight that positive news.

He is nowhere to be seen in the pictures and now won’t be until the trip to Spurs on October 19th at the earliest.

That means Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio or Danny Ings will start up front at Brentford.

Guilherme's Future

Hammers fans were seriously excited by the signing of Luis Guilherme given how hard Tim Steidten pushed to sign him for £20m from Palmeiras.

Some supporters have been baffled by his lack of involvement so far.

The only squad Guilherme has made up to now is the League Cup game against Bournemouth. But the Brazil Under 20 international didn’t get on.

Guilherme was said to have impressed in training recently yet was still not in the squad for Chelsea or Liverpool.

Confusion around Guilherme stems from the fact Steidten declared he would be ‘a player for now and the future at West Ham’.

The long-term plan behind the signing is that he has time to bed in and eventually succeed Mohammed Kudus who will likely be sold next summer. So there is still plenty of time for that.

Guilherme has been featured in West Ham’s last three pre-game first team training galleries. But he hasn’t made any of those squads. Then he played – and scored – for the Under 21s against Benfica on Tuesday night.

So supporters expected him to be named in the Under 21s squad again for the clash with Chelsea last night. Except he wasn’t. So it remains to be seen whether he makes the cut for Brentford. If not then questions will once again be asked.

Brentford vs West Ham kicks off at 3pm.