Brentford square off against Preston North End in the Championship on Sunday afternoon having recorded four points from their last two fixtures.
Preston find themselves sitting just above the relegation zone after losing each of their two home fixtures since the beginning of the campaign.
Match preview
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Until the closure of the summer transfer window, Brentford boss Thomas Frank will have doubts over how his squad will line up over the next three months of the campaign.
With each positive result, the Dane will hope that the club's star men choose to give the club one more year, especially in the case of Said Benrahma who starred against Fulham in the EFL Cup on Thursday night.
One of his strikes will do little to ease speculation regarding a big-money move to the Premier League, but it may have only tempted the Bees into retaining the services of the talented playmaker.
While Brentford had already been heading in an upward trajectory in two competitions, the return of the Algeria international has added an extra dimension to their game as they bid to move the next stage of their development.
The London outfit have now gone five matches without defeat, and Frank will be confident of extending that against opponents in Preston who are still awaiting their first league success of the season.
With their opening triple-header coming against Swansea City, Norwich City and Stoke City, their disappointing start should be put into some context before criticism is fired at Alex Neil.
Nevertheless, the Scot will be fully aware that he is under pressure to turn things around at Deepdale after a drop off in form throughout 2020.
Each of their three setbacks in all competitions have come in the North-West, and that may be something which encourages Preston to play with some freedom at the weekend.
None of Neil's squad has scored more than one goal over the last five matches, highlighting that he may have to enter the transfer market over the coming days.
Brentford Championship form: LWD
Brentford form (all competitions): LWWDDW
Preston North End Championship form: LDL
Preston North End form (all competitions): WLWDLL
Team News
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Despite speculation regarding his future, Benrahma is expected to feature in the Brentford starting lineup.
Frank will recall the senior players who were left out against Fulham, including Ivan Toney who is still to score from open play since his move from Peterborough United.
Saman Ghoddos will likely drop down to the substitutes' bench after making his debut against the Cottagers.
Preston will be without Tom Barkhuizen, who picked up a straight red card during the defeat versus Stoke.
Andrew Hughes is expected to come into the team as his replacement.
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Daniels; Dalsgaard, Pinnock, Jansson, Thompson; Dasilva, Norsgaard, Marcondes; Mbuemo, Toney, Benrahma
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Rudd; Browne, Bauer, Davies, Hughes; Pearson, Ledson; Sinclair, Gallagher, Maguire; Stockley
We say: Brentford 2-0 Preston North End
Despite the extra workload brought on by their participation in the EFL Cup, we feel that it will only benefit Brentford over the long term. Although Preston will want to make things difficult for the Bees, we fancy the home side to come through this contest with minimal fuss.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Under 3.5:dataData Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Brentford win with a probability of 53.64%. A draw had a probability of 24.7% and a win for Preston North End had a probability of 21.64%.
The most likely scoreline for a Brentford win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.52%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.2%) and 2-1 (9.56%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.72%), while for a Preston North End win it was 0-1 (7.19%). The actual scoreline of 2-4 was predicted with a 0.3% likelihood.
