Nuno Espirito Santo at West Ham believes the relegation battle will last until the final match

Strikes by Igor Thiago and Mikkel Damsgaard plus an unfortunate own goal by Konstantinos Mavropanos secured victory for Brentford who are chasing a Champions League spot.

West Ham from East London still hold a two point cushion over the drop zone yet could slip into it if Tottenham manage to defeat Aston Villa this Sunday.

In his post match interview with BBC Match of the Day, Espirito Santo confessed his view that the fight against relegation “will go down to the wire.”

“I stand here honest and trying to speak to you about what I saw,” he explained.

“Brentford is a very good team but the way we react and play the first half, hitting the post, having a goal disallowed for a tight margin, it gives us hope at half-time. But the penalty hurts us and after that it becomes an old situation with the rush.

“But it's up to us how we react to a tough loss today. (The penalty) It hurt us. It goes against what we wanted in the half-time talk. Unfortunately, we conceded from a penalty, which could have been avoided.

“It's up to us how we will react to the situation and noise. Let's stick together. We have three games to go. It will go down to the wire, the last game. We have to stick together.”