Sometimes you have one of those days where nothing goes your way.

That’s how West Ham felt today, as they slumped to a 3–0 defeat to Brentford at the Gtech Stadium. The result could see the Hammers fall back into the relegation zone if Tottenham beat Aston Villa on Sunday.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s side had a shaky start to the game, with Brentford’s Dango Ouattara almost scoring within the first 30 seconds. The Irons survived that scare, but soon enough, they fell behind.

On 15 minutes, a cross from the Bees’ left caused problems in the West Ham box. After the defence failed to clear their lines, Michael Kayode put pressure (and a foot) on Konstantinos Mavropanos, who put the ball into his own net while trying to clear the danger.

Nuno’s side almost equalised immediately when Taty Castellanos’ curled effort hit the post – that would become a trend in the game. But moments later, the Hammers would equalise – or so they thought.

El Hadji Malick Diouf’s free-kick found Mavropanos, who scored at the right end this time with an emphatic header. However, he had strayed offside in the build-up, and the goal was chalked off by VAR. Before the half was out, Castellanos hit the woodwork again, striking the other post with a superb header from Jarrod Bowen’s corner.

Brentford went into half-time ahead, but West Ham were still in the game. But that would change after the interval.

Sometimes silly errors define matches, and when Diouf needlessly brought down Ouattara in the West Ham penalty area, alarm bells rang. Referee Craig Pawson awarded Keith Andrews’ side a penalty, which Igor Thiago dispatched with ease – for the eighth time in the league this season.

At 2–0 down, the Irons could have easily had two penalties themselves. Keane Lewis-Potter appeared to drag down Tomáš Souček from a corner, but nothing was given. Then, Pablo Felipe was taken out in the box after Crysencio Summerville hit the crossbar. Once again, nothing was given. It just did not seem to be West Ham’s day.

And that was definitively proven when Brentford sealed the win through Mikkel Damsgaard. After some poor defending from substitute Aaron Wan-Bissaka, the Dane slotted home the Bees’ third goal with ease, as the hosts cruised to victory.

A poor outing by Nuno’s Hammers – albeit they were not helped by some very questionable officiating. The pressure is now on the Hammers to pick up points in their last three games of the season.

Supporters will be concerned once again, and understandably so. But there is still enough quality in this West Ham side to avoid the drop. Here’s hoping today was a blip in what has been an otherwise excellent couple of months for the Hammers.