Leeds United vs Brentford preview: visitors looking to build on big midweek victory and further dent Leeds' form

Brentford are looking to build on their superb 5-0 thrashing of Birmingham City on Tuesday night with a trip to Elland Road to face an out of form Leeds United side who are without a win in 11 matches in all competitions.

Brentford travel to Elland Road on the back of two excellent wins against Birmingham and Sunderland respectively, whilst Leeds are in awful form without a win since the turn of the year.

Leeds come into the game after two consecutive 2-2 draws and will look to claim their first victory of 2018 on home soil.

The Bees will hope they can continue Leeds’ 2018 woes with another victory to strengthen their push for the play-off spots.

Brentford need to continue current form

Brentford currently are still sat in 10th in the Championship table but are only four points of 6th placed Bristol City. After the two successive victories it has set the Bees up for play-off push but they can’t slack off in a very tight division where anyone can beat anyone even when teams are in awful form.

The Bees have a mixed run of fixtures coming up against fellow promotion chasers Cardiff City and also relegation candidates Burton Albion, with Bristol City starting to crack Brentford need to keep the pressure on if they want to take another crack at the play-offs after their run in 14/15.

Bees boss Dean Smith said on his opposite number in his pre-match press conference on the club website: “He has been close to the three points the last two games. I’ve watched both the games. Bristol City started the game really well and got the lead with two long-throws. Second-half Leeds really had a go at them, got back into the game, and then had a chance to win it at the end.

“They’ve then gone to Derby, who haven’t lost many games recently, and took the lead against them. I felt it was against the run of play but Derby got back into it before they took the lead again and nearly held onto it.”

Leeds looking to change their fortunes

United sit only one place behind Brentford in the Championship table in 11th and are four points behind the Bees. This is quite surprising considering Leeds have only taken 4 points from a possible 24 which is relegation form. The inner turmoil of the club could be the reason for Leeds’ drop in form, this is definitely a season of what might have been for United.

Leeds face two promotion favourites in the next couple of games before what could be a bottom of the table clash with struggling Reading so a win at Elland Road against Brentford could get United closer to the right end of the table.

Paul Heckingbottom had this to say on Leeds’ hopes for a top six finish in his pre-match press conference on the club’s official website: “Yeah, it’s slim. I know how good the teams are above us, they’ve been showing more consistency."

“We know where our frailties are. We have to work on getting the message to players and then we’ll know in the next window which sort of players we need."

Team News

Brentford are still without Rico Henry but midfielders Josh McEachran and Lewis Macleod could feature after returning from injuries. Sergi Canos is also available for Smith after serving the last of his suspension against Birmingham.

Leeds are still without Luke Ayling and Conor Shaughnessy but there could be a return for talisman Pablo Hernandez who has recovered from a groin injury.