Wycombe Wanderers host Brentford on Tuesday evening in their 18th league game of the season.
The Bees are currently 16th in the table with 19 points from their opening 17 league games.
With a home win against struggling Stockport County their only league victory since September, Brentford will be looking over their shoulder at the chasing pack as we approach the busy Christmas period.
Between now and 2nd January the Bees are scheduled to play Leeds, Charlton, Franchise, Southampton and Colchester as well as make tricky away trips to Gillingham and Tranmere.
Just 8 points ahead of Wycombe going into Tuesday’s game, the Bees will be only too aware of the danger of being sucked back into a relegation battle.
Promoted along with Wycombe last season, Brentford finished the season as Champions of League Two. Both games between the two sides ended in draws, with the clash at Griffin Park in March producing a six-goal thriller during which striker John Akinde introduced himself to the Wycombe faithful with two goals in a stunning debut performance.
Further spice is added to Tuesday’s clash by the fact that Brentford signed Sam Saunders, Ben Strevens and Carl Cort in the summer, all players which former Wycombe manager Peter Taylor considered bringing to Adams Park.
The Bees have been busy in the loan-market recently and pulled-off something of a coup last week by signing Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny who played for the Gunners in their 2-0 Carling Cup win over West Brom in front of a 56,592 Emirates crowd in September.
Other recent loan-signings are Tottenham midfielder John Bostock and Ipswich defender Pim Balkestein.
The Chairboys are currently 23rd in the table with 11 points from their opening 17 league games.
On Saturday Wycombe won a game for the first time since August and kept their first clean sheet of the season.
Now Tuesday’s game against the Bees gives them the opportunity to record another first – their first win against another side in the bottom half of the table.
Having now played all the teams in the top half, Wycombe have collected 10 of their 11 points against these supposedly stronger opponents while only managing to bank 1 solitary point in their 5 games against fellow strugglers.
Defeats to bottom-eight sides Tranmere, Orient, Brighton and Gillingham haven’t helped the Chairboys in their quest to climb out of the relegation zone and with Brentford one of the sides Wycombe can realistically hope to catch before the end of the season, Tuesday’s game is an important one.
The travelling Wycombe fans were delighted with their team’s battling performance in the 2-0 win at Millwall on Saturday and will be hoping that’s the standard they can expect from now on, starting against the Bees on Tuesday.
In the wake of Saturday’s performance it would be no surprise to see the eleven players who finished the game given another chance against Brentford, with the possible exception of Stuart Beavon, who did brilliantly up-front on his own but may have to give way to John Akinde if the on-loan Bristol City striker is fit to play.
Brentford’s last five games (All Competitions)
LG1: Exeter (A)…………..Lost 3-0
FAC: Gateshead (A)……Drew 2-2
LG1: Millwall (H)…………Drew 2-2
FAC: Gateshead (H)……..Won 5-2
LG1: Walsall (H)…………Drew 1-1
Wycombe’s last five games (All Competitions)
LG1: Walsall (H)…………..Lost 3-2
FAC: Brighton (H)……….Drew 4-4
LG1: Huddersfield (A)……Lost 6-0
FAC: Brighton (A) ………..Lost 2-0
LG1: Millwall (A)…………..Won 2-0
Brentford Goal Stats (All Competitions)
Goals Scored (Total)………25
Goals Conceded (Total)…..29
Goals Scored (Away)……….7
Goals Conceded (Away)….14
Clean Sheets….4
Wycombe Goals Stats (All Competitions)
Goals Scored (Total)………23
Goals Conceded (Total)…..43
Goals Scored (Home)……..12
Goals Conceded (Home)….20
Clean Sheets….1
Brentford’s Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)
Myles Weston…………..5
Charlie MacDonald…….4
Kevin O’Connor………..4
Carl Cort………………..3
Ben Strevens…………..2
John Bostock……………2
Four other Brentford players have each scored 1 goal.
Wycombe’s Top Goal Scorers (All Competitions)
Jon-Paul Pittman………6
Matt Harrold……………5
Scott Davies……………3
Chris Zebroski…………2
Seven other Wycombe players have each scored 1 goal.
Brentford Shooting (Top-3)
Sam Saunders……16 on-target….16 off-target…..3 against woodwork
Carl Cort…………..18 on-target….12 off-target…..0 against woodwork
Myles Weston……..14 on-target….14 off-target…..0 against woodwork
Wycombe Shooting (Top-3)
Jon-Paul Pittman…..14 on-target….10 off-target….0 against woodwork
Scott Davies………..10 on-target….13 off-target….3 against woodwork
Stuart Green……….11 on-target….10 off-target….0 against woodwork
Shooting (Club)
Brentford…….105 on target…83 off target…8 against woodwork
Wycombe……..94 on target…74 off target…4 against woodwork
League Form Guide
All Games
Brentford….Pld: 17…W: 4…D: 7….L: .6….Pts: 19…Pts per game: 1.12
Wycombe….Pld: 17…W: 2…D: 5….L: 10…Pts: 11…Pts per game: 0.65
Against Top Half Opposition
Brentford….Pld: 9…….Pts: 10….Pts per game: 1.11
Wycombe….Pld: 12…..Pts: 10….Pts per game: 0.83
Against Bottom Half Opposition
Brentford….Pld: 8…….Pts: 9……Pts per game: 1.12
Wycombe….Pld: 5…….Pts: 1……Pts per game: 0.20
Last Five league Games
Brentford:…….LWLDD – 5 points
Wycombe:…….DDLLW – 5 points
Last Five League Games (Away)
Brentford:……..DLDLL – 2 points
Last Five League Games (Home)
Wycombe:………LLLDL – 1 point
Previous Meetings
Altogether the two sides have met on 25 previous occasions with 8 wins for Wycombe, 7 for Brentford and 10 draws.
At Adams Park there have been 7 wins for Wycombe, 4 for Brentford and 3 draws.
1994/95 LG1: Wycombe 4 Brentford 3
1995/96 LG1: Wycombe 2 Brentford 1
1996/97 LG1: Wycombe 0 Brentford 1
1997/08 LG1: Wycombe 0 Brentford 0
1998/99 FLT:. Wycombe 1 Brentford 4
1999/00 LG1: Wycombe 2 Brentford 0
2000/01 LG1: Wycombe 0 Brentford 0
2001/02 FLT:. Wycombe 1 Brentford 0
2001/02 LG1: Wycombe 5 Brentford 3
2002/03 FAC: Wycombe 2 Brentford 4
2002/03 LG1: Wycombe 4 Brentford 0
2003/04 LG1: Wycombe 1 Brentford 2
2007/08 LG2: Wycombe 1 Brentford 0
2008/09 LG2: Wycombe 0 Brentford 0
The Man In The Middle
Tuesday’s referee is Keith Stroud from Hampshire who joined The Select Group of referees in 2007. His last Wycombe game was a controversial and frustrating 1-1 draw with nine-man Franchise at Adams Park in November 2007.
Prediction
Home Win
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