Preview | Brentford v Swansea City
Swansea City head to the Brentford Community Stadium for the first time tonight as they take on the Bees in their own backyard (7pm).
While there have been changes in personnel, these are two sides who are very familiar with each other having met seven times over the past two seasons.
The most recent of those meetings came at the end of July in the second leg of the play-off semi-finals as Brentford claimed a 3-2 aggregate win.
In the end they would lose the final to Fulham, and so it is that the old foes face off again in the second tier.
But Steve Cooper has made clear this is no revenge mission, with the only focus being on getting the three points on offer.
The Swans head to west London on a four-match unbeaten run, which has included back-to-back wins and clean sheets against Stoke and Blackburn.
The hosts, meanwhile, have won three of their last four, including a comprehensive 3-0 victory at Luton at the weekend.
Team news
Swansea City will again be without Morgan Gibbs-White and George Byers as the midfielders recover from foot and groin problems respectively.
Otherwise Cooper reported no new injury issues following the win over Blackburn, meaning he is set to have the same group available to him.
Pre-match views
Steve Cooper: "These are the games we've, not just got to get ready for, but got to be excited about the challenge.
"We go there with a lot of confidence, a lot of commitment, and we'll see how it goes.
"What has happened before is irrelevant to me, we'll just focus on ourselves and we'll always act with class, I hope, even though sometimes that's difficult with the emotions of a game.
"We're never too disturbed or disrupted by what anybody else does. It's about focusing on ourselves while, at the same time, trying to stick up for ourselves as well.
"Our only objective on Tuesday is to go and get three points for the Swans, and that's where our focus will be."
Thomas Frank: “I’m very pleased with the performance against Luton, the good thing is that we now put pressure on ourselves in terms of we need to put another good performance in on Tuesday (against Swansea).
“This needs to be our standard now as this was the first time we really had that complete performance and that is good, but we need to keep going.”
Remember the last time?
Swansea City’s promotion hopes were ended as a strong finish was not enough to prevent Brentford booking their place in the Championship play-off final.
Steve Cooper’s side had entered the second leg with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg, but they trailed on aggregate inside 15 minutes in west London as Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Marcondes netted for the hosts.
And when Bryan Mbuemo finished in the opening minute of the second half, it put the Bees firmly in control of the tie in the final game at Griffin Park.
Rhian Brewster's improvised finish gave the Swans hope and set up a nervy finish for the hosts, but it was Brentford who booked their place in the Wembley final.
Vital statistics
7 – Swansea City’s wing-backs continue to deliver during the opening stages of the 2020-21 season. Seven of the Swans 12 league goals have come via an assist or finish from either Connor Roberts or Jake Bidwell.
9 – Brentford’s Ivan Toney is joint-topscorer in the Championship. His nine goals have all come in his last seven appearances.
35 - Swansea City and Brentford have both taken 35 points from 18 games since football resumed in June. Of sides in the Championship across the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, no-one can match that tally. Reading (30) have the next-best record.
Today’s mascots
Tonight we welcome our virtual mascots, Thomas Wroe and Rosie Roberts.
Thomas is aged 11, from West Sussex, and plays football for Storrington Community FC. Thomas has a brother named Dan, and his favourite player is Matt Grimes.
Rosie, also aged 11, is from Swansea. Her favourite player is Connor Roberts, and she plays football for Talycopa United U-12s. Rosie has one sister and three brothers.
