Brentford meet Swansea City at Wembley Stadium in the 2020-21 Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final, as both teams look to claim the final spot in 2021-22 Premier League.
Having fallen at the final hurdle last season for a fourth time, Brentford are hoping to end their play-off hoodoo with their first-ever promotion via play-offs route at the tenth attempt.
Swansea meanwhile won on their last visit to the Play-Off Final which coincidentally falls exactly ten years ago on Sunday (30 May), just one day after this season’s Play-Off Final so will be looking to utilise the spirit of 2011 to push for glory.
Team News
Christian Norgaard is a doubt for Brentford after suffering an unspecified injury in warm-up ahead of the Bees’ comeback second leg win over Bournemouth last Saturday.
Rico Henry (hamstring) is a doubt but Josh Dasilva (hip) and Shandon Baptiste (knee) remain absent .
Swansea will be without Wayne Routledge after the midfielder was substituted in the 1-1 draw of their play-off semi-final second leg against Barnsley with a knee injury.
Brandon Cooper, Steven Benda (both ankle) and Ollie Cooper (knock) are also ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Brentford have won just one of four previous Play-Off matches against Swansea (W1, D1, L2), although those meetings all came at semi-final stage of 2005-06 League One and 2019-20 Championship Play-Offs.
- Swansea have failed to win any of their last three ‘away’ clashes against Brentford (D1, L2).
- Both meetings this season finished 1-1 with Thomas Frank’s Bees scoring first in both clashes through Ivan Toney and Tariqe Fosu respectively.
- Brentford have failed to win all four previous EFL Play-Off Final appearances (L4), scoring two goals and conceding seven goals of which they conceded twice in each of their last three Play-Off Finals.
- Swansea have won just one of three previous EFL Play-Off Final appearances (W1, L2), despite conceding five goals in all three EFL Play-Off Finals including twice in each of last two such appearances
- This is the first match this season involving Brentford and Swansea to be refereed by Chris Kavanagh.
Prediction
With both teams not experiencing the best of play-off fortunes over the years, I definitely expect a cracking contest because Thomas Frank’s Bees will be keen to put last season’s late heartbreak behind them here with promotion given that they have grown in experience and quality.
Brentford however will have to sort out their set piece tactics because in both legs of their semi-final, they left nobody in midfield ready to backtrack and cover counter-attacks, which really should of cost them if not for their excellent attacking intent pulling them through as Bournemouth defensively collapsed.
Swansea meanwhile certainly had to fight their way through their semi-final against Barnsley because they were simply clinical up front and defensively solid, which was particularly evident in how they were able to backtrack from set pieces whilst holding formation to limit scoring opportunities for the Tykes.
Steve Cooper’s Swans also did have to fight their way from behind to 1-1 draws against Brentford in both clashes this season, so that difficult semi-final tie might well stand them Welsh club in good stead for what is sure to be another tough contest.
On that note, I think extra time and penalties could be a likely bet given the quality of both teams combined with their poor Play-Off Final records, but I think that their heartbreaking experience of last season will provide Brentford with the extra motivation needed to end their disastrous hoodoo.
Prediction: Brentford 2-1 Swansea (After Extra Time)
Result:: Brentford 2-0 Swansea
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