Brentford go in to the final month of the Sky Bet Championship season with seven games to play and the first of those is a trip to Preston North End. Three of Brentford's final seven games will be away from home and they start the last four weeks of the campaign in Lancashire. The Bees will head to Deepdale on Saturday, 10 April, for a match that will kick-off at 3pm.
Brentford go in to the match on a four-game run of consecutive draws. Those draws have come in different ways with a 0-0 against Birmingham City yesterday, Tuesday 6 April, the latest. Brentford's last two away games have been a 1-1 with Huddersfield Town, when they conceded inside the first ten minutes, and a 2-2 at Derby County, when they had a 2-0 lead at half time. Brentford's last win was away from home, at Blackburn Rovers.
With one defeat in their last seven matches, and only four losses in 32 matches, Brentford are third in the Championship table. They have played a game fewer than the two teams above them but Watford, in second, are nine points ahead and leaders Norwich City are 17 points clear. If results go their way, Norwich could be promoted to the Premier League this weekend.
Brentford have Swansea City a point behind them and Barnsley two points back, the latter having played a games more. Reading are sixth, four points behind, while AFC Bournemouth are seventh, five points back. The Bees also have a game in hand on Reading.
The game of the weekend at the top of the Championship table takes place on Friday night when Reading travel to Watford. Swansea are away to Millwall early on Saturday while Bournemouth and Barnsley both have home fixtures, against Coventry City and Middlesbrough. Norwich could clinch promotion if they win at Derby County and others below them drop points.
Preston took four points over the Easter weekend with a draw at home to Norwich, secured with a stoppage time goal, and a win at Swansea. That victory also came thanks to a last-gasp winner and leaves Preston 16th in the table, 13 points ahead of Rotherham United, in 22nd and in the relegation zone. Preston had only taken one point from five games before that.
North End won a strange game in West London in October. Ivan Toney scored twice as Brentford took a 2-0 half time lead but the visitors scored four times in a rush after the break to take the points. That was their first win in our corner of West London since 2011 but they have had the better of recent meetings at Deepdale. Preston have won three of their last four home games in this fixture, including a 2-0 success last season.
Saturday's match will, unfortunately, be behind closed doors. It will, however, be available live on iFollow Brentford. As per the EFL communication on the broadcast arrangements for the new season, all of a team's games not selected for live coverage by Sky Sports will only be available on that platform. See more here.
The announcement here also confirms that a team's away matches can only be purchased on a game-by game basis. Fans that want to watch will need to sign up for iFollow and pay £10 to tune in (£7 for international fans). Buy your Match Pass and watch at home.
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