Brentford v Bournemouth: Bees capable of recovering in front of home crowd

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

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Brentford to qualify
2pts 6-4 Betfair, Power

Team news

Brentford
Rico Henry and Henrik Dalsgaard returned from injury in the first leg but Josh Dasilva and Shandon Baptiste remain sidelined.

Bournemouth
Junior Stanislas and Steve Cook are doubts and Lewis Cook is out long-term.

Match preview

Brentford recovered from a 1-0 first leg deficit to defeat Swansea in last season's Championship playoff semi-finals and they can repeat the trick against Bournemouth in front of their biggest crowd at the Brentford Community Stadium.

Just two matches with fans have taken place at Brentford's new home and both were draws - 2-2 against Blackburn and 0-0 against Derby.

Only a win will do against the Cherries and Bees boss Thomas Frank has demanded an improvement after admitting that his team were below their best in Monday's 1-0 loss on the south coast.

Bournemouth went into the first leg after three successive defeats but they were focused and compact and chose the right moments to spring forward on the counter-attack.

Jonathan Woodgate's side had some success getting down the sides of Brentford's back three, and a swift break led to Arnaut Danjuma's decisive 55th-minute strike.

At that stage there was a chance for Bournemouth to go on and increase their advantage but they seemed to retreat into their shell and were let off the hook by a dreadful miss from Bryan Mbuemo.

Brentford finished the game frustrated but there is a long way to go and it was strange to see Bournemouth wasting a late corner opportunity – preferring to play out time than seek a second goal.

The Cherries should know more than anyone the fragile nature of a one-goal advantage because they took the lead in last December's league fixture in west London before succumbing to a 2-1 defeat.

Brentford should still have plenty of belief and Frank could adjust his tactics, having switched to a back four for the final 20 minutes of the opening leg.

Christian Norgaard was influential after advancing into midfield and the system change suited fit-again full backs Henrik Dalsgaard and Rico Henry, who were second-half substitutes.

Frank must decide whether Dalsgaard and Henry are ready to start after long layoffs of two and three months respectively, but he may be prepared to take the risk given the high stakes at play.

Bournemouth's approach will be more straightforward and Woodgate is likely to focus on keeping mistakes to a minimum and making Brentford work as hard as possible for their openings.

However, Brentford's more expansive gameplan gained them ten more points than Bournemouth over the 46-game season and it may help them to reach a playoff final for the second time in less than ten months.

Key stat

Brentford are unbeaten in their last eight home fixtures.

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