Talking Tactics | Brentford v Swansea City
Football stats experts WhoScored.com take a look at the recent form of Ben Cabango, and the key role he can play in tonight's meeting with Brentford.
A well deserved 2-0 win over Blackburn on Saturday saw Swansea move up to second in the Championship table, within four points of league leaders Reading, as they continue their promotion push.
Victory saw Steve Cooper's side extend their unbeaten run to four matches and the momentum is with them as they gear up for the midweek trip to Brentford.
The Bees currently sit four points behind Swansea having won three of their last five matches, but their home form has not been as solid as they would have liked.
Indeed, Brentford have picked up just seven points in west London this season, a disappointing return given their outstanding form at the tail-end of last season.
The departures of key attacking pair Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma has inevitably required a bedding in period for new faces, but they have started to show signs of finding their form.
However, Swansea are unbeaten on the road in the Championship this season, one of only three teams to have achieved the feat at this stage of 2020-21, and centre-back Ben Cabango will be among those with vital roles to play in trying to keep the Brentford attack out as the Swans look to maintain their sequence without defeat on their travels.
The 20-year-old stepped in for Ryan Bennett at the heart of the Swansea defence on Saturday and put in an assured performance at the back.
Cabango put the Swans ahead midway through the first half against Rovers, and was solid in a clean sheet-attaining performance, with his WhoScored.com rating of 8.47 enough to not only win the man of the match award, but secure a spot in the team of the week too.
The star man showing helped push his average WhoScored.com rating for the season up to 7.07, that one of the better scores for Swansea this season. At the Brentford Community Stadium this week, another fine showing at the back wouldn't go amiss.
The Bees have developed a number of statistically calculated WhoScored.com strengths including 'creating scoring chances' and 'finishing scoring chances', though Blackburn boast these two strengths, too, and Swansea were able to shut out Tony Mowbray's side.
The trip to Brentford, though, will provide a stern test of Swansea's credentials. While the Swans have lost only one of their last 11 away league matches, a fine record in itself, Brentford have won the last two meetings between the pair in west London.
Having kept the Championship's top scorer at bay on Saturday, now Cabango and Swansea face an in-form striker who has joined Adam Armstrong at the top of the scoring charts.
A first-half goal in Brentford's 3-0 win at Luton on Saturday means no player has scored more goals than Ivan Toney (nine) in the Championship this season. The former Peterborough man has had a direct hand in 10 goals in his last seven league outings, and has scored five goals in his four home Championship appearances this season.
With Toney boasting a statistically calculated WhoScored.com strength of 'finishing', that is deemed to be Very Strong, Cabango and Swansea will need to keep a close eye on the 24-year-old or they could be heading home from west London with nothing to show for their efforts in midweek.
Cabango, though, ensured Armstrong did not have his usual impact for high scoring Blackburn at the weekend, and the young centre-back will relish the challenge of keeping Toney at bay as Swansea look to keep their good form going.
