Nuno Espirito Santo admitted West Ham lost their heads as they slumped 3-0 at Brentford to leave them deep in relegation trouble.
The Hammers’ Premier League survival is no longer in their own hands and they will find themselves back in the bottom three if Tottenham beat Aston Villa on Sunday.
Brentford looked ripe for the taking having not won in six matches, but they have become West Ham’s bogey team since they were promoted and have now won eight of their 10 Premier League meetings.
A Konstantinos Mavropanos own goal, Igor Thiago’s penalty and Mikkel Damsgaard’s strike did the damage for the Bees, who are right back in the mix for European qualification for the first time in their history.
West Ham were left to rue Mavropanos having an equaliser ruled out for a tight offside, while Taty Castellanos hit a post twice and Crysencio Summerville rattled the crossbar.
“We are disappointed, of course,” said Hammers head coach Nuno. “First half was good, really good, really positive. We conceded from a cross, but we reacted well.
“We played good, the game was flowing, we were in control, we created a lot of situations, hit the posts, all these details.
“So at half-time we were positive that the game is going to change and things will come to us. But overall, it’s a tough day for us.
“We have to understand that we must react from a setback like today, a tough day. It’s up to us now to react, to react, knowing that it’s three games to go, it’s going to the last one. So let’s prepare as much as we can so we can play better.”
Thiago’s penalty proved to be the game’s pivotal goal, after El Hadji Malick Diouf went to ground trying to stop Dango Ouattara
“He should avoid that, but Ouattara is a very good winger, so it’s hard to defend against him,” added Nuno.
“The second goal hurt us. We lost composure, we lost organisation, we were rushing.”
Brentford are up to sixth, which could yet yield a Champions League place this season, after an overdue win.
“We’re in a good place,” said boss Keith Andrews. “Clearly sixth with three games to go is not a bad position to be in.
“So, yeah, we should enjoy that. We should embrace that. And yeah, let’s just keep pushing for the last three games and see where that brings us.”
