Brentford take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at Gtech Community Stadium on Wednesday 27 December (7.30pm kick-off).
Wolves' 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Christmas Eve lifted them to 11th on 22 points, while Brentford are three points and three places worse off in the Premier League table having played one game fewer.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, including team news from Thomas Frank’s press conference.
Pre-match analysis
Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Differences between the two sides more glaring than similarities
One unfortunate contrast for Brentford head coach Thomas Frank at present is that his counterpart at Wolves, Gary O'Neil, has a near full-strength squad to choose from: the Portuguese trio of José Sa, Pedro Neto and Nelson Semedo set to return to action on Wednesday.
Brentford, meanwhile, have three players out suspended (Ivan Toney, Ben Mee and Frank Onyeka) and Bryan Mbeumo, Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey, Kevin Schade Josh Dasilva and Kristoffer Ajer out injured, although Mathias Jensen is back to face Wanderers.
The impact of the Bees' casualty list is evident in the stats: only four teams in the division using more players than Brentford (26) this season.
What the numbers also tell us is that Frank and his side have rolled well with the punches, only Arsenal, Everton and Newcastle (14) having had more different goal scorers in 2023/24 than Brentford (Christmas quiz: can you name the Bees' 12 scorers?).
Wolves, on the other hand, have been incredibly reliant on a small pool of attacking players this season. In fact, only five of the Midlanders' 23 goals this season have been scored by non-forward players.
Further, Neto - when fit - has been by far Wolves' most productive supply line and he currently sits joint-top of the Premier League assist charts with seven.
Another obvious disparity in the two sides' numbers this term concerns how they opt to progress up the pitch. While Brentford are one of the more accurate teams in the league playing long and direct, Wolves rank third from bottom for long balls completed.
O'Neil's side do, however, top the pile for successful dribbles this season with 204 - forward Cunha ranking behind only Man City's Jeremy Doku and West Ham's Mohammed Kudus for take-ons completed.
To pick up on one last counterpoint, Brentford can perhaps exploit the fact that Wolves have committed more fouls-per-game (13.2) than any team in the Premier League this season, while the Bees average exactly two less (11.2).
The joint-most prolific side in the top flight from dead-ball situations last season, Brentford's goal against Villa last weekend stemmed from a corner - and the Bees should aim to make their set-plays count again against Wolves.
PS: Here are those 12 Brentford goalscorers: Mbeumo, Wissa, Jensen, Maupay, Schade, Lewis-Potter, Nørgaard, Baptiste, Ghoddos, Mee, Collins, Pinnock
Scout Report
How Wolves and O'Neil have surprised the Premier League
Wolves played out another season of relative mediocrity in 2022/23, finishing 13th after scoring only 31 goals in the Premier League - their lowest tally since the 1983/84 First Division campaign (27).
Until just after last Christmas, they were prime relegation candidates after picking up 13 points from their 18 games to the turn of the year. They were second bottom by this point - and had already sacked Bruno Lage in October as a consequence of a miserable first few months.
The Portuguese was replaced by former Porto, Real Madrid and Spain boss Julen Lopetegui, who had first been linked with the job at Molineux six years earlier.
There was still a lack of consistency after domestic football restarted, but the Spaniard ultimately delivered the results to secure a place safe in the middle of the pack, leading to a sixth straight season back in the Premier League.
“I don’t want to forget the second part of the season,” said Lopetegui after the season’s conclusion. “It was fantastic to be out of the relegation zone three matches before the end.
“Maybe it has been a little miracle, but now we have to learn for the future. Maybe one miracle is possible, but two? No. That’s why you have to improve and do your homework.”
A hectic summer followed. To comply with financial fair play regulations, Wolves had to sell their best assets this summer, including Rúben Neves to Al Hilal and, of course, Nathan Collins to Brentford. Matheus Cunha and Boubacar Traoré’s loan moves have become permanent, but the club were otherwise greatly restricted.
Then, six days before the curtain-raiser against Manchester United at Old Trafford, Lopetegui departed after his contract was cancelled by mutual consent.
The search for a new boss lasted only a day, with Gary O’Neil installed two months after leaving Bournemouth but, as Wolves writer Liam Keen tells us, on paper, this was not seen as an upgrade.
Yet O’Neil has won most of his doubters over with the way things have panned out so far.
Results-wise, they struggled at the start, with four defeats in the first five leaving them in the familiar surroundings of the relegation zone.
But things have picked up since September, with the 16 points taken from the last 12 games resulting in a comfortable mid-table spot and a top-half finish not out of the question.
With only two clean sheets at the time of writing and 29 goals shipped, tightening things up at the back will be important going into the second half of the campaign, but Wolves have already scored 21, which is just 10 fewer than the entirety of last season.
That suggests an element of entertainment has returned to Molineux after two pretty conservative campaigns.
In the Dugout
Gary O’Neil
Gary O’Neil is a familiar face for the majority of English football fans, having played in either the Premier League or the Championship for the entirety of his 19-year career.
The former England Under-21 international played more than 500 games for the likes of Portsmouth, West Ham United and Norwich City, and won promotion from the second tier a remarkable four times.
He only retired from playing the game four years ago, having finished at Bolton Wanderers in May 2019 (after winning their Player of the Year award), and then been unable to find a club to prolong his career with after an Achilles injury.
O’Neil’s coaching career began in August 2020, when he worked as the assistant to Liverpool Under-23 boss Barry Lewtas and, six months later, he was drafted in as first-team coach at Bournemouth, after Jonathan Woodgate’s appointment.
Woodgate departed the Vitality Stadium that summer, but O’Neil stayed on to work under former West Ham team-mate Scott Parker and, when Parker left shortly after promotion back to the Premier League at the start of the 2022/23 campaign, he was appointed as head coach last November after three months as caretaker.
The 40-year-old kept the Cherries in the top flight for another season, securing a 15th-place finish, five points above the relegation zone, but was sacked in June in favour of Andoni Iraola.
O’Neil was appointed as Wolves boss on 9 August.
The Gameplan
With the Express and Star’s Liam Keen
Liam Keen, Wolves writer for the Express and Star, explains how Gary O’Neil is likely to set up his side at Gtech Community Stadium:
“If Ait-Nouri is fit and available and playing as expected, then O’Neil will go back to what he had been doing and what had been such a successful system. It changes within a game, making it harder to explain, but it will be a back five.
“My predicted team would be this: Sá will be in goal if he is fit, Semedo right wing-back, Kilman playing on the right of the back three, Dawson in the middle, Gomes and Ait-Nouri left wing-back.
“Then it will be Mario Lemina and João Gomes in midfield, and then probably Pablo Sarabia, Cunha and Hwang. It is more of a 5-2-1-2 formation.”
Read the full interview with Liam Keen here
Team News
Jensen in line for Brentford return
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has confirmed that midfielder Mathias Jensen is fit again and available for selection.
Jensen’s return is a boost for the Bees ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ visit to Gtech Community Stadium.
The Denmark international, who has five goal contributions (3G, 2A) in 12 Premier League appearances this season, hasn’t featured for Brentford since the 3-0 defeat to Liverpool on 12 November due to an adductor injury.
Defender Nathan Collins played the final 14 minutes against Aston Villa last time out having overcome an ankle injury, while Frank is hopeful that midfielder Josh Dasilva (hamstring) could make his return against Wolves in the Emirates FA Cup on 5 January.
Bryan Mbeumo, Rico Henry, Aaron Hickey, Kevin Schade and Kristoffer Ajer are all unavailable for Wednesday’s game.
Match Officials
Madley the man in the middle
Referee: Andrew Madley
Assistants: Harry Lennard and Nick Hopton
Fourth official: Simon Hooper
Video assistant referee: Paul Tierney
Andrew Madley took charge of a Premier League game for the first time on 31 March 2018: a 2-2 draw between Watford and Bournemouth.
Last season, Madley officiated 34 matches including Brentford’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea in April.
In total, Madley showed 122 yellow cards and one red card last term.
Madley’s last Brentford assignment came on in October as Scott McTominay struck twice in stoppage-time to consign Brentford to the cruellest of defeats at Old Trafford.
Last Meeting
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Brentford 0 (Premier League, 15 April 2023)
Diego Costa and Hee-chan Hwang got the goals as Wolverhampton Wanderers took the points at Molineux with a 2-0 victory over Brentford.
The home side were full value for their victory, even if there was an element of luck about both strikes.
Christian Nørgaard’s well-timed challenge rebounded off Costa and in for the first-half opener while an Ethan Pinnock block dropped perfectly for Hwang to roll home the second with 20 minutes to play.
For Brentford, Josh Dasilva lifted over from close range in the first half while Ivan Toney had a shot tipped on to the crossbar late on