The Hawthorns

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 -  19:00
West Brom
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Brentford
Stream on WBA TV
Key Events

Slaven Bilić’s Baggies welcome a rival from last season as Brentford travel to The Hawthorns on Tuesday evening (ko 7pm) for a third-round tie in the Carabao Cup.

Brentford

Their last campaign

The Bees suffered an agonising blow at the final hurdle last season after being edged out 2-1 in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off final against Fulham. Prior to their trip to Wembley Stadium, Brentford had taken the Championship by storm with their energetic style of play which their attacking line of Benrahma, Mbeumo and Watkins (commonly known as BMW) massively benefitted off.

Defeats against Cambridge and Leicester City knocked them out of both cup competitions in the early stages but their head coach, Thomas Frank, guided them to a largely successful season despite losing their chance of a spot in the top flight as they pushed Albion right to the very end.

In the dugout

Prior to his move to England as part of former boss Dean Smith’s coaching staff, Frank managed in his native country leading the Danish national side at youth level from U16, U17 and U19s. His first senior role came when local top-flight outfit Brøndby IF appointed him as manager where he enjoyed three years at the helm and came close to getting them into the Europa League group stages following a number of top-four finishes in the League.

The 46-year-old parted ways with the Danish side in 2016 and became assistant head coach to then-boss Dean Smith, but when he left for Aston Villa in 2018 Frank was promoted to his current role in charge of the first team.

One to watch

Bryan Mbeumo was part of a clinical array of attackers at Brentford’s disposal last season. As mentioned, the Bees’ ‘BMW’ trio were unstoppable at times and Mbeumo, who only joined the club last summer, proved to be invaluable with 23 direct goal involvements in 42 appearances, including one particularly important goal against Swansea which helped them reach Wembley.

Our last meeting

Kyle Edwards’ goal back in 2018 proved to be enough to secure a 1-0 away win against Brentford.

But the last encounter between the two won’t have lived long in the memory of Baggies fans who witnessed a 1-0 defeat to Thomas Frank’s side in what was Albion’s second match back after lockdown.

Stats

Albion

  • The Baggies will be looking to maintain their recent goals-per-game ratio after netting a total of five in their last two matches.
  • History favours Slaven Bilić’s men on home soil with Albion unbeaten in all 11 matches they’ve ever played against Brentford at The Hawthorns.
  • Albion have scored six goals in their only two meetings with the Bees at home in the Carabao Cup, conceding just once.

Brentford

  • Like the Baggies, Brentford have also scored five goals in their last two matches.
  • But their history in the Carabao Cup isn’t favourable at this stage of the competition, having not progressed from the third round in the last five years.
  • Last season’s record backs their ability to net away from home though, and with the exception of the Play-Offs, the Bees failed to score in just eight out of 23 away league matches last season.

Head to head

  Albion Draw Brentford
League 9 4 3
FA Cup 1 0 0
League Cup 2 0 1
Total 12 4 4

Our one to watch

Hal Robson-Kanu was heavily involved during last week’s Carabao Cup match and will no doubt be important again this Tuesday.

Following Rekeem Harper’s opening strike, Robson-Kanu’s delightful curling effort doubled the advantage and bagged the Welsh international his first goal of the season.

The 31-year-old was Albion’s joint top-scorer in the League last year with 10 goals - a career high for goals in a season.

And after getting off the mark in the previous round, there’s no doubt he’ll be looking to contribute more to the cause and help the Baggies progress in the competition.

Read all about it

As Albion’s cup progress continues in the Carabao Cup, so does the production of the match day programme with Rekeem Harper starring as the main interview here.

If you haven’t already, you can secure a season subscription to Albion News here.  

Follow the game

Supporters in the UK can watch Albion’s Carabao Cup third-round tie with Brentford (ko 7pm) on a live stream.

The match will be available on the Carabao Cup website for £10 and can be purchased here.

This is a brand new service for the 2020/21 season so supporters will need to register a new account on the site. Please note that you will not be able to log in with your My Albion account as the service is not being provided by the club.

If you have any issues creating your account or accessing the stream please contact carabaocupsupport@streamamg.com.

Before purchasing a pass please ensure your device meets the minimum operating requirements detailed below.

Operating Systems: Windows 8.1 or later, Mac 9+

Browsers: latest versions of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari (Internet Explorer and Opera are not supported for Live Video)

Mobiles & Tablets Operating Systems: Android 6+, iOS 9+ *some OS may still not be supported by manufacturer.

Please note WBA Radio will not be available for this game.

Robson-Kanu in action against Brentford

Albion bowed out of the Carabao Cup on penalties after an action-packed 2-2 draw in 90 minutes at The Hawthorns. 

Grady Diangana missed his spot-kick with the score at 4-4 in the shootout, leaving Christian Norgaard with the opportunity to send the Bees through – an opportunity which he didn’t let pass by.

The third-round tie saw three penalties in normal time with Hal Robson-Kanu converting twice for the Baggies and Marcus Forss firing home for the visitors in a game which also saw Emiliano Marcondes score a spectacular bicycle kick.

New signings Branislav Ivanović and Conor Gallagher both gained valuable minutes on their debuts, with the Serbian defender playing the best part of an hour and Gallagher completing the full game.

Both sides made a bright and energetic start at The Hawthorns. Gallagher fired over from inside the area with his first touch in an Albion shirt after 90 seconds having met a Matt Phillips cross from the right.

The Bees came close on three separate occasions in the opening ten minutes. Tariqe Fosu-Henry’s teasing ball across the six-yard box was put behind for a corner, while right-back Rico Henry and midfielder Sergi Canos saw efforts from range fly high and wide respectively of David Button’s goal.

Slaven Bilić’s men were quick to respond though. Rekeem Harper, who scored with a sublime strike against Harrogate in round two, saw an attempt from outside the penalty area deflect behind before midfield partner Gallagher forced Raya into a save with a shot from 20 yards.

The visitors then came close to opening the scoring after 21 minutes when Emiliano Marcondes’ shot cannoned back off Button's near post with the ball falling at the feet of Fosu-Henry. 

Lee Peltier was quick to close Brentford’s number 24 down, blocking his shot from inside the box to prevent Thomas Frank’s team taking the lead.

The final meaningful attack of the first 45 saw the Baggies win a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area. Left-back Conor Townsend stepped up to whip it towards the near post from the right, but his strike fizzed over the top of the bar.

But Albion didn’t have to wait much longer to get their noses in front following the restart. Dominic Thompson brought down Robson-Kanu in the area after 10 second-half minutes and the striker calmly rolled the resulting penalty past Raya.

But the Bees made a terrific recovery and equalised just moments later. Charlie Goode kept a deep cross alive by nodding it back into the middle of the penalty area where Marcondes unleashed a spectacular bicycle kick which clipped the bar before nestling in the back of Button’s net.

Phillips then tried to fire the Baggies back in front but his drive from 25 yards was straight at the Brentford stopper Raya. 

Albion maintained their push for second goal and their efforts were rewarded 66 minutes in. Kyle Edwards was tripped in the box by Goode and Robson-Kanu slotted home an almost identical penalty to his first ten minutes earlier.

But once again the Bees bounced back. Referee Darren England awarded the third penalty of the night when Cédric Kipré was adjudged to have brought down former Baggies Academy forward Marcus Forss. Forss picked himself up and fired the spot-kick right down the middle to make it 2-2.

The final 15 minutes were frantic as both Albion and Brentford desperately tried to find a winning goal at The Hawthorns.

Gallagher had two chances in the space of three minutes. The on-loan Chelsea man couldn’t keep a strike from inside the penalty area down after meeting Edwards’ nod back, before seeing Raya reach his rasping drive from 20 yards out.

At the other end, Fosu-Henry’s tenacious strike from a central position 30 yards from goal whistled narrowly wide of Button’s right post, while Mads Bech Sorensen connected with Norgaard’s corner only to see Button push it over with a fine finger-tip save in the 90th minute.

Neither side could find a third goal and it went straight to penalties. 

After eight perfect penalties and the score at 4-4, substitute Grady Diangana saw his spot-kick saved by Raya. Norgaard then stepped up and fired past Button to send the Bees through to the fourth round.

ALBION: Button; Peltier, Ivanovic (O’Shea 59), Kipre, Townsend; Field, Harper, Gallagher; Phillips (Diangana 71), Robson-Kanu (Austin 86), Edwards.

Substitutes: Bond, Furlong, Sawyers, Pereira.