Bournemouth v Brentford predictions: Cherries may be picked off

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Bournemouth v Brentford in the Championship playoff semi-final first leg on Monday

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event & Sky Sports Football, 6pm Monday

Best bet

Brentford
2pts 13-8 Betfair, Betfred

Team news

Bournemouth
Junior Stanislas (hamstring) will miss at least the first leg and Lewis Cook (knee) is out long-term.

Brentford
Rico Henry (hamstring) and Henrik Dalsgaard (knee) are pushing to rejoin the squad but Josh Dasilva (hip) is expected to miss the playoffs.

Match preview

Brentford are approaching the Championship playoffs with plenty of confidence after a four-game winning sequence and can take a step towards the final by defeating Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.

An extended season feels like an unwanted fallback option for the Bees, who spent much of the campaign pushing for automatic promotion.

However, the Londoners can be proud of a second successive third-place finish which was achieved with six more points than last season.

Bournemouth, relegated last season, can feel slightly disappointed to have finished 14 points adrift of the top two.

There is a possibility they could join Norwich and Watford in achieving an immediate return to the top flight but they have made life hard for themselves despite retaining the bulk of the squad which finished above the Canaries and the Hornets in last season's Premier League.

A club used to managerial stability - Eddie Howe was in charge from October 2012 to August 2020 - felt the need for a change of direction when replacing Jason Tindall with Jonathan Woodgate in early February, and the move seemed to pay off when the new regime steered them to seven successive victories either side of Easter.

They approached the last three matches in third place but lost the lot, starting off with a 1-0 home defeat to Brentford.

Losing to the Bees for the second time this season was no disgrace but the manner of the loss must have concerned Woodgate and his staff.

Brentford dominated and won the shot count 18-4 despite playing almost half of the match a man short due to the 50th-minute dismissal of centre-back Pontus Jansson.

While Brentford saw out the game with confidence and composure, Bournemouth look disjointed and short of ideas and, three weeks on, they are still dealing with the fallout.

Bournemouth followed up with a 1-0 reverse at Wycombe and a 2-0 loss at home to mid-table Stoke, who went into the final weekend without 12 injured players.

The result against Stoke was potentially damaging because a draw would have seen them finish fifth instead of sixth and avoid having to face Brentford over two legs.

Woodgate remains bullish and insists he would not swap any of his players for those at Brentford but his bravado could be exposed by the most talented forward outside of the Premier League.

Brentford are a team, first and foremost, but they possess an outstanding individual in Ivan Toney, who would not look out of place if he was called up to England's Euro 2020 squad.

Toney topped the Championship scoring charts with 31 goals in his first season of second-tier football but also provided ten assists.

He will be hot property irrespective of the outcome of the playoffs and can further enhance his reputation by helping the Bees to beat Bournemouth for a third successive time.

Key stat

Brentford are unbeaten in their last 12 matches.

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