Brentford VS Swansea City Match Prediction
2020-07-29
18:45:00
Brentford
VS
Swansea City
Our Prediction Tip
Brentford will win this match.
2020-07-2918:45:00 Brentford will win this match.
Andre Ayew’s first-leg goal gave Swansea their first win in this fixture this season. The Swans had previously dominated – unbeaten since a League One defeat in December 2005 – but Brentford won 3-0 away and 3-1 at home in their Championship matches. Brian Mbeumo scored in both games for the Bees, while Ollie Watkins netted twice when they last met at Brentford. They have met in the play-offs before, in League One in 2006, and Swansea won over two legs on that occasion. Here are the results of their last five meetings:
Jul 26, 2020: Swansea City 1-0 Brentford
Dec 26, 2019: Brentford 3-1 Swansea City
Ocr 22, 2019: Swansea City 0-3 Brentford
Apr 02, 2019: Swansea City 3-0 Brentford
Feb 17, 2019: Swansea City 4-1 Brentford
Brentford faltered at the final hurdle in their bid for automatic promotion – a win against either Stoke or Barnsley would have done the job but they lost both.
With confidence visibly shot, they then lost the first leg of this match as Swansea missed a penalty but Andre Ayew made amends with the winner.
Brentford were hampered by Rico Henry’s red card, of course – and their appeal against the controversial decision is pending at the time of writing.
But they may feel they did not do enough anyway up to that point, as Swansea rode the crest of the wave that had seen them sneak into the final play-off spot on the last day of the season.
Their hero of that game, Wayne Routledge, is now out injured but they showed they could do the job in the first leg.
Most impressive was the fact they kept Brentford’s in-form front three quiet. The Bees have scored six times against Swansea this season but none last time out.
It should be concerning for Brentford that their form has dipped with the finish line in sight – it could be a mentality issue as much as anything.
But they certainly have the firepower to get back to winning ways and reach the play-off final – a first Premier League promotion remains within their grasp.
Brentford are favourites to win this second leg and can be backed at 8/13 to win with Betway. The Bees are 19/20 with Bet365, meanwhile, to reach the play-off final.
A two-goal winning margin will be enough for Brentford, and they scored six goals across two league games against Swansea earlier in the campaign. Brentford to win by two goals is 7/2 with Bet365 and Paddy Power.
Ollie Watkins will be key to that and the Bees’ top scorer – who scored twice when these sides last met at Brentford – is a best price of 6/5 with Paddy Power to score at any time.
Brentford’s confidence has taken a battering but their performances this season deserve to be capped by promotion. They can dig deep and overturn this deficit.
Bees boss Thomas Franck is confident the club’s appeal against Rico Henry’s sending-off in the first leg will be successful – the ever-present defender was shown a straight red card despite cleanly winning the ball. If he is available, he will continue on the left of the back four as one of three ever-presents in this team, alongside David Raya and Ollie Watkins.
Ollie Watkins – The 24-year-old striker has scored 25 goals this season, featuring in every single one of Brentford’s Championship matches.
Said Benrahma – The Algerian winger has scored 17 goals and chipped in with eight assists too, proving an integral part of the in-form front three.
Brian Mbeumo – Not scored since last month, but the Frenchman is due a goal having netted 15 times in 43 league matches.
Brentford stumbled at the final hurdle, losing 1-0 to Stoke and 2-1 to Barnsley to miss out on automatic promotion by just two points. Their third-placed finish meant a play-off semi-final against Swansea, but the Swans won 1-0 in the first leg – Andre Ayew missed a penalty but made amends by scoring the winner after Rico Henry’s controversial red card.
Kyle Naughton is back from suspension for Swansea, but they are likely to be without veteran midfielder Wayne Routledge. The midfielder pulled up after scoring the goals which booked Swansea’s place in the play-offs on the final day of the season. Even with Naughton back, the Swans – who have vowed to approach this game looking to win rather than defend their lead – could be unchanged from the first leg.
Andre Ayew – Made amends for his missed penalty by scoring the winner in the first leg – his 16th goal of the season. He also has seven assists.
Rhian Brewster – The Liverpool loanee has scored ten goals so far this season, having arrived on loan from the Premier League champions in January.
Matt Grimes – The midfielder has set up seven goals from the middle of the park and he remains a key part of the tempo Swansea look to set.
Swansea were set to miss out on the play-offs until a crazy end to their final game, in which they ran out 4-1 winners at Reading as Nottingham Forest were being beaten by the same score at Stoke. Goals from Rhian Brewster, Wayne Routledge (twice) and Liam Cullen put Swansea in the top six instead. As a result, they faced Brentford in this fixture and took a 1-0 lead from the home leg thanks to Andre Ayew’s goal.
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