West Ham United's players have been enjoying a largely successful pre - season of the back of a thrilling season which seen them qualify for the UEFA Europa League.
David Moyes will be hoping to keep this momentum going with a strong performance against newly promoted Brentford FC, with the Bees also having a strong pre - season including a 2-2 draw against Premier League giants Manchester United and a strong 3-1 victory over a potential relegation rival in Watford.
"It's special to go back."
Former Brentord star and current West Ham player Said Benrahma is relishing the chance to see some familiar faces in the Brentford team. The Algerian winger signed for West Ham from Brentford in the summer of 2020 and is looking forward to the occasion.
“It’s special to go back, it’s a friendly match but we’ll also play them in the league this year,” said Benrahma. “I’m happy for them that they got promoted” the winger said in and interview with the Evening Standard.
“I think that Brentford is a club that gave me everything. They did give me everything, they helped me, they made me evolve and grow.
“Despite the fact I was only there for two years, they showed me a lot of love.” Benrahma added.
Skippers Duties
Benrahma is not the only one looking forward to the game. He may still be the new kid on the block in the infancy of his West Ham career, which is quite the opposite for club legend and veteran Mark Noble. The English midfielder has enjoyed pre - season in his last ever one as a West Ham player, scoring in the 6-2 demolition of Celtic on Saturday.
Noble told whufc.com “It was a lovely day, really nice to play there and it’s a fantastic football stadium. I was a little bit gutted that it wasn’t full, but the atmosphere was great and obviously it was a great result in the end.
“That said, I don’t take too much out of pre-season games. It’s about getting minutes in the legs and getting ready for the season, but when you come to a place like this and play at a stadium like this, that makes it a little bit special.”
“We’ve got two tough games coming up, but we’re getting our players back after the Euros now and doing a bit of training, because we’re going to need them.
“We’ve got an incredible fixture list coming up of games so we’re going to need as many bodies as we can."It is great to see the captain still has much left to give and he hopes to push for another European spot in his final season with the club.
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