Brentford v West Brom: Sky Bet Championship betting preview, free tip & TV

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Brentford v West Brom in the Sky Bet Championship on Friday.

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Football & Main Event, 7.45pm Friday

Best bet

Brentford
2pts 7-5 Betfred, Hills

Team news

Brentford
Bryan Mbeumo is sidelined after testing positive for coronavirus before the Fulham game.

West Brom
Jonathan Leko (knee) is a long-term absentee but the Baggies have no fresh injury concerns.

Match preview

West Brom had a ten-point lead over Brentford when the Sky Bet Championship promotion race resumed but that advantage could be down to five by the time the Baggies leave Griffin Park on Friday night.

Brentford made the perfect start after the resumption, scoring two late goals at third-placed Fulham to reduce the gap on their west London rivals to just one point.

And things got even better for the Bees when both of the clubs in the automatic-promotion spots dropped points over the weekend with West Brom being held to a goalless draw at home to Birmingham and Leeds losing at Cardiff.

For much of the season the Baggies had the most potent attack in the second tier but their stalemate against Blues was the third game in a row in which they have failed to find the net.

While Slaven Bilic's men were struggling in a 1-0 home defeat to Wigan and a 0-0 draw at Swansea, Brentford beat Sheffield Wednesday 5-0 in their last home game to become the leading scorers in the Championship.

Their victory at Fulham was achieved without winger Bryan Mbeumo, who is self-isolating after testing positive for coronavirus, but manager Thomas Frank still had plenty of attacking quality at his disposal.

The highly-rated Ollie Watkins led the line, ace Algerian winger Said Benrahma scored his 11th league goal of the campaign while January signing Tarique Fosu impressed on the flank and substitute Emiliano Marcondes wrapped up the victory in added time.

Brentford must play on the front foot given that they are eight points behind West Brom and Leeds with eight matches remaining but they have the personnel to do that.

West Brom were understandably rusty against Birmingham, when only two of their 20 shots were on target, and they have an excellent away record, winning 11, drawing six and losing just two of their 19 road games.

But they have failed to beat any of their top-four rivals this season and Brentford have the confidence and the quality to take a big step closer to the top two.

Key stat

West Brom have taken just three points from four matches against the rest of the Championship top four.

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