Two late goals against Fulham last time out helped to further sustain Brentford’s push for Premier League football during their swansong season at Griffin Park, but they face the difficult challenge of hosting league leaders West Brom on Friday.
Thomas Frank’s ‘Bees’ have been one of the surprise packages of the season, playing an entertaining and attacking brand of football which has seen them score an average of two goals in their last 18 home matches in the Championship.
Whilst their league leader counterparts have had a slightly more dismal time of late, with The Baggies’ form far from convincing, finding themselves winless in their past four games which includes their stalemate against Birmingham City in their last outing.
Despite this, Slaven Bilic has guided them to a league-low of only five defeats this campaign and are unbeaten in their last four away matches, which has made the return of English top-flight football to The Hawthorns almost a certainty.
The West Midlands outfit will be travelling to London without Jonathan Leko once again, whilst questions have been raised towards the inclusion of talented defender Nathan Ferguson, who is leaving at the end of the season after turning down a contract extension.
Brentford are likely to be without their in-form forward Bryan Mbeumo, who missed the London derby with Fulham due to testing positive for coronavirus, meaning the mandatory isolation period could rule him out of proceedings, with Sergi Canos and Nikolaos Karelis also doubtful.
The sheer importance of this fixture for both sides makes this incredibly difficult to predict who will come out the other side with the three points within their grasp. West Brom have a historic advantage over Friday’s opponents, winning and drawing twice in their four meetings since 2003.
However, Brentford are joint leaders in goals scored at home, only losing once in their last 11 games at Griffin Park with only Leeds having conceded fewer goals this term than the West London side. For me, they cancel each other out, either side could edge it on the day, but I think the safe bet is a score-draw as both sides lock horns for top-flight riches.
Match Preview written by Ethan Evans.