Wolverhampton Wanderers welcome visitors Brentford to Molineux on Wednesday night, as they look to bounce back from a defeat by Derby County at the weekend.
Travelling Brentford, meanwhile, produced their first win under stand-in coach Lee Carsley on Saturday and they will be hoping to move forward with another positive result.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
© Getty Images
The hosts come into the clash looking to rid some terrible memories of Sunday's defeat to County at Pride Park.
Kenny Jackett's outfit had played some fairly impressive attacking football in the first half, but they were ultimately undone by some woeful defending and the added brilliance of Rams frontman Chris Martin.
Wanderers will be pleased that they now get to return to home soil, where they have lost just once all season.
Prior to the loss to Derby, Wolves had won consecutive games in the Championship against Fulham and Huddersfield Town, while also conceding only once in four fixtures.
Jackett will know that his defence needs to improve, given that they conceded almost one third of their goals all season in the defeat at the hands of Paul Clement's County side.
Going forward things have not been too bad for Wolves, who now share the third-best attacking statistics in the league and they will be hoping that Benik Afobe can start to kick on again after finally ending his goal drought a few games ago.
With a long season ahead, last weekend's defeat may not be too harmful in the grand scheme of things, and it might just provide a wakeup call to a defence that appeared a touch complacent against Derby.
Jackett will be looking at coming fixtures against Middlesbrough and Birmingham City and he might be hoping that a victory against Brentford could inspire his men to cause some real problems against some of the league's early pace-setters later in the month.
Recent form: LDDWWL
Brentford
© Getty Images
Caretaker coach Carsley became fully aware of the current task in hand at Brentford as he lost his opening two games in charge of the club.
Currently languishing in 19th place in the league standings, the Bees look some way off the side that had challenged for promotion right until the death last campaign.
The Reds have managed to produce a few glimpses of hope in recent weeks and they were finally able to earn a win to end a three-game losing streak against Rotherham United last time out.
Carsley will be happy with the form of Alan Judge, but what will remain a major concern is that the Bees have already conceded 20 goals in the early stages of the new season. When looking at the league's statistics, Brentford have the joint-third worst defensive record in the Championship.
Looking ahead will not fill Carsley with too much hope either, given that they have to face Queens Park Rangers and Hull City. Before those games, however, the Reds also face Charlton Athletic in a vital contest against a club that currently sit just one place below them in the standings.
Recent form: LWLLLW
Team News
© Getty Images
Wolves midfielder Dave Edwards is aiming to push himself in order to prove his fitness in time to make a return, but he may not be risked until the Middlesbrough game.
Jackett might not have liked what he saw at Pride Park, but he could decide to give his players a chance to bounce straight back on Wednesday.
Adam Le Fondre has picked up a hand problem following on from the Derby game, but it should not impact his ability to face Brentford.
After their victory over Rotherham, Brentford could easily stick with the same starting XI that appeared at the weekend.
The Bees do have Lewis Macleod, Sam Saunders, Scott Hogan and Marcos Tebar back in training, but they are all doubtful for the visit to Wolves.
Wolverhampton Wanderers possible starting lineup:
Martinez; Iorfa, Batth, Hause, Golbourne; Henry, McDonald, Price, Wallace; Afobe, Le Fondre
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Button; Yennaris, Dean, Tarkowski, Bidwell; McCormack, Woods, Judge, Swift, Canos; Djuricin
Head To Head
These sides last met in the Championship last season, when Brentford fell to a 2-1 defeat away from home. That result came in response to a fixture earlier in the campaign that saw the Bees send Wolves to a humiliating 4-0 loss at Griffin Park.
We say: Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Brentford
Wolves will be aiming to hit straight back after coming completely unstuck by an efficient Derby side at the weekend. Prior to that defeat they had just started to find some positive form and they will be eager to discover their winning touch ahead of some big games against Middlesbrough and Birmingham. Despite last weekend's victory, Brentford have had a tough time of things lately and they might come unstuck given the number of goals that they have already conceded so far.
Christopher Dodd
