Brentford welcome Swansea City to Griffin Park for the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final.
Swansea head into the second leg with a narrow one-goal advantage, but Brentford will be confident of turning things around.
The Swans put in a hard-working performance at the Liberty Stadium, enjoying 53% possession in the first leg while racking up 13 shots.
Despite seeing less of the ball, the Bees still managed to register ten shots and created plenty of chances throughout the game.
However, when Brentford left-back Rico Henry was sent off for a reckless challenge midway through the first half, the game swung in Swansea’s favour.
Andre Ayew scored the only goal of the game with a spectacular half-volley from the edge of the penalty area on 82 minutes.
Ayew had the chance to put Swansea ahead earlier in the match from the penalty spot, but Brentford goalkeeper David Raya denied the Ghana striker.
The Bees actually finished three places and 11 points ahead of the Swans in the final Championship table, but they now find themselves needing to come from behind to reach the final.
Head-to-head: Interestingly, in the two league meetings between the sides this term, Brentford beat Swansea convincingly on both occasions.
Brentford claimed a 3-0 victory at the Liberty Stadium back in October before recording a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture at Griffin Park on Boxing Day.
In fact, Brentford’s “BMW” – the attacking trio of Said Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo, and Ollie Watkins – have scored a combined total of five goals against Swansea this term alone.
Team news: Brentford will be without young forward Marcus Forss as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury, while Rico Henry is suspended following his sending off in the first leg.
Right-back Kyle Naughton will return from a three-game suspension for Swansea on Wednesday, and manager Steve Cooper has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the second leg.
Brentford know they must now come from behind to reach the final, although an attacking approach could leave the team exposed at the back.
Swansea will be happy to sit back and defend their lead, but the away side will have opportunities to hit the hosts on the counter attack.
Forebet predicts that Swansea will advance to the Championship play-off final by coming out on top in a match that is likely to produce over 2.5 goals.