Seeking to bounce back from early FA Cup exits, Brentford and Bournemouth return to Premier League action at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Bees were dumped out in the third round by West Ham United at the weekend, while the Cherries fell to a 4-2 defeat to Championship pace-setters Burnley.
Match preview
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Lightning would not strike twice for Brentford against West Ham, who had fallen to a 2-0 Premier League defeat to the Bees in their final top-flight fixture of 2022 before successfully getting revenge in Saturday's FA Cup contest.
Thomas Frank's rotated team succumbed to a 79th-minute winner from Said Benrahma as their dreams of silverware came to an end for at least another 12 months, but the Bees' quest for an unlikely European spot in the Premier League table is still very much alive.
Deservedly thumping Liverpool 3-1 last time out, Brentford stretched their unbeaten run in the Premier League to six matches - winning three of their last four in the division - and they occupy ninth place in the table at the time of writing.
Brentford could have therefore slipped down to 10th place by the time Saturday's fixtures commence, but going through fixtures with Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur unbeaten only serves to further enhance the Bees' reputation as a top-half-worthy team.
Furthermore, only leaders Arsenal have got the better of Brentford on their own patch this season, and avoiding defeat this weekend would see the Bees record a seven-game unbeaten run in the top division for the first time in 85 years.
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The Cherries' cup commitments are also over for another year after an enthralling six-goal loss to Burnley at the Vitality Stadium, which ended a four-game run without scoring for Gary O'Neil's men but also exacerbated their defensive woes.
Manuel Benson and Anass Zaroury both struck braces on the day to render Ryan Christie and Dominic Solanke's efforts inconsequential, but O'Neil can at least now focus all his efforts on Bournemouth's declining league form, which has dragged them back into relegation danger.
Having initially steadied the ship after taking over from Scott Parker, O'Neil has overseen three successive top-flight defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Manchester United, dropping the Cherries into 16th place and only one point clear of Everton below the dotted line.
Entering Saturday's game with an abysmal record of one win and seven defeats from their last eight Premier League contests, Bournemouth also have a four-game losing run on the road to try to correct, but 29 goals conceded away from home is unsurprisingly the worst tally of its kind in the division.
Brentford edged past Bournemouth 3-2 on aggregate when the two sides met in the semi-finals of the Championship playoffs in the 2020-21 season, but October's Premier League showdown was far more uneventful, as the two managers shook hands on a 0-0 draw.
Team News
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Brentford's star striker Ivan Toney was not quite ready to return from his knee injury in the FA Cup, but the England international is making significant progress and should be able to apply for a place in the squad this weekend.
Shandon Baptiste, Frank Onyeka and Aaron Hickey could also come back into the fold in what would be part of a quadruple injury boost for Frank, leaving Pontus Jansson (hamstring) as the hosts' only absentee for Saturday's game.
Freiburg loanee Kevin Schade came off the bench for his Brentford debut in the FA Cup, and the 21-year-old could now earn his first Premier League minutes as a substitute versus the Cherries.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth defender Adam Smith has incurred a one-match Premier League ban after accumulating five yellow cards, and with Ryan Fredericks also nursing an unspecified injury, Jack Stacey should come in to start this one.
David Brooks, Neto, Marcus Tavernier and Junior Stanislas are also confined to the treatment room, but Jefferson Lerma - who was rested in the FA Cup in order to manage some knee discomfort - should return to the engine room.
O'Neil put out a recognisable XI for his side's FA Cup loss to Burnley, but the Cherries boss could field a new-look defence here, with Jack Stephens and Jordan Zemura potentially dropping out for Lloyd Kelly and Chris Mepham alongside the introduction of Stacey.
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Raya; Zanka, Mee, Pinnock; Roerslev, Norgaard, Janelt, Jensen, Henry; Mbeumo, Wissa
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Travers; Stacey, Mepham, Senesi, Kelly; Christie, Cook, Lerma, Billing; Moore, Solanke
We say: Brentford 2-0 Bournemouth
While defeat in the FA Cup will go down as a minor blot on Frank's notebook, Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium fortress are a force to be reckoned with, and the possible reinclusion of Toney would only add to the Bees' final-third potency.
In stark contrast, Bournemouth and goalscoring have not gone hand-in-hand recently, and we can only envisage Brentford maintaining their European push with a comfortable three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
