A place at Wembley is on the line on Wednesday evening when Brentford and Swansea City settle their differences in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final. Swansea head to London with a 1-0 lead from the first leg.
This will be the last game of football ever played at Griffin Park, so if Brentford needed more motivation to perform and turn this tie around that might well give them it. They’ll know they can’t afford any slip ups now though. This second leg is tantalisingly poised.
Where to watch
The match will be televised in full on the Sky Main Event and the Sky Football channels. The build up to the game begins at 7pm with the kick off coming at 7.45pm.
Brentford
You really have to wonder about the mentality of the Brentford players right now. They looked to be absolutely cruising to automatic promotion a couple of weeks ago but then came surprise defeats to Stoke City and Barnsley, where a pair of draws or a win in either would have seen them become a Premier League club for the first time, and then they imploded in the first leg of this tie on Sunday evening. With just 72hrs between hits it wouldn’t be too surprising if this is a task too big mentally.
The other thing that isn’t going to help Brentford is they have had it rammed down their throats that they have embarked on eight previous play-off campaigns and got promoted in none of them. That is all true but what they need to tell themselves is that for the most part they have been solid defensively this season and their front three are the best in the Championship. The other thing they can tell themselves is the tie is still alive when it might not have been.
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Swansea City
There is a bit of a test on for Swansea City here too because they are probably now the favourites to qualify in terms of perception if not the bookmakers odds. They head to London in front in the tie but they won’t need telling that they could have put it to bed on Sunday evening. They missed a penalty and had a couple of other golden chances that they didn’t convert against 10 men. They will hope that doesn’t come back to haunt them.
On the flip side of that, we mentioned that Swansea seem to express themselves more on their travels at the minute so they are likely to be more than quietly confident that they can get the job done here. The one thing they must do is be decisive over their plan going into the game. We often see teams for whom a draw will do get caught in two minds whether to stick or twist and pay the price. If they are clear in their intent this could be theirs to lose.
Team News
Rico Henry has had his red card from the first leg rescinded so he will be available to be selected in this second leg. Thomas Frank has suggested he has no fresh injury concerns so he could go in with the same starting XI.
Steve Cooper has Kyle Naughton back from suspension so he could be included should the Swansea boss wish, although his side defended pretty well on Sunday and he too might decide to name an unchanged side for the game.
Betting
We’re set up for a great second leg here and it is one where I think we will see goals. Brentford don’t have to go gung ho from the first whistle but they’ll need to play on the front foot as they have to score twice to make it through. If Swansea get the first goal then Brentford will have to push more men forward and that will leave them wide open for a counterattack which the Welsh side tend to flourish with.
Everything is on the line for both these sides now and each goal in the game is going to have to get a response out of the team that concedes it. We have two very talented attacks on show here so if a goal is needed they have the firepower to get it. I don’t expect this to go wild from the first whistle but just the way the tie is poised it is going to go crazy at some point and by the time the final whistle is blown I expect to have seen at least three goals.
Tips
WON – Back Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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