Aston Villa take on Brentford tonight at Villa Park. Below is a low-down on Dean Smith’s Bees.
Brentford form
Like most teams in the Championship, including Villa, Brentford have had a rather mixed bag so far this season.
In fact, Brentford started their season in the exact same fashion as Villa. They began their campaign with an away defeat to Huddersfield, and then lost 1-0 to Exeter in the EFL cup just three days later.
After a poor start, the Bees managed to turn things around with two home victories over Ipswich and Nottingham Forest.
Their winning run didn’t last long, however, as they lost 1-0 to Rotherham in their following game.
The Bees failed to get the better of another South Yorkshire side when they welcomed Sheffield Wednesday to Griffin Park a week later.
Brentford dominated for the most part of the contest, but fell to a last minute equaliser from Wednesday’s Sam Hutchinson.
Last weekend, Dean Smith’s men picked up an excellent three points at Brighton. Top scorer Scott Hogan scored both of Brentford’s goals in an impressive 2-0 victory over the title contenders.
Brentford key man
The man to watch for Brentford is Ryan Woods. The 22-year-old midfielder, who was born in the West Midlands, is a product of Shrewsbury Town’s academy.
He made the move down south last year and has made 46 appearances in total for the Bees.
Billy Grant (@billythebee99), a Brentford fan and blogger, said:
If I were to pick one player out, it would be midfielder Ryan Woods who we bought from Shrewsbury for 50p a year ago. He’s a rock in midfield and is getting better each week.
Woods has made seven outings for the Bees so far this season but is yet to score a goal or make an assist.
Brentford manager
Brentford boss Dean Smith grew up supporting Aston Villa. He even worked at Villa Park at one point, but he has never faced the Villans as a player or manager.
His managerial career began at Walsall, which was his first ever club. He spent four years with the Black Country side and experienced both highs and lows.
Smith’s best achievement with the Saddlers was a trip to Wembley in 2015, where he took his side to the final of the Football League Trophy. In the club’s first outing at Wembley, they were outclassed by Bristol City losing 2-0.
The former centre-back made his move down south in 2015 and his style of play has already made him a fan favourite at Griffin Park.
Billy Grant said:
Compared to how we used to play, we are a lot more conservative. We were Keegan-esque in our play-off season. Scored loads. Let in loads. Dean has finally got the defence sorted and we hit teams with a sucker punch counter. So all in all, Dean Smith has done really well to turn it around. We still need more creativity in midfield, but when you compare us to teams with a lot more cash we’re doing okay.
Brentford’s likely line-up
Both Rico Henry and Callum Elder are out with injuries, so expect to see Andreas Bjelland fill in at left back.
Besides that, Brentford should remain unchanged from their weekend triumph at Brighton.
Dean Smith is set to line-up in the 4-1-4-1 formation which worked so well for his side last weekend. Bentley; Colin, Dean, Egan, Bjelland; Yennaris; Woods, Sawyers, Clarke, Macleod; Hogan.
The predictions
Sunday’s draw against Nottingham Forest has told me that we can actually make good chances and score goals, so I’m therefore confident for tonight’s contest. Brentford are a well-drilled, talented side, but I think we might just get the upper hand. I’m going for 2-0 to Villa.
Bees fan Billy Grant said:
I want to be consistent and say it will be a 1-1 draw, as that is what I have predicted all along. However, as the game gets closer I think we might just nick it.
