Ahead of the winner takes all Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley this weekend, we look at some interesting stats for both the Swans and Bees.
As the away side, the Swans will wear their turquoise and pink away kit, whilst Brentford will wear their traditional red and white home kit.
Statistics
- Both Championship meetings between Brentford and Swansea City in 2020/21 ended 1-1, with the Bees taking the lead in both games. The Swans were the only side the Bees dropped as many as four points from winning positions against in the regular league campaign.
- This is the second consecutive season to see Brentford and Swansea City meet in the Championship Play-Offs, with the London side eliminating the Swans 3-2 on aggregate in last season’s Semi-Final.
- This is the 10th different occasion the sides finishing third and fourth in the second tier have met in the Play-Off Final, with the third-place sides winning promotion on six of the previous nine occasions. However, last season saw third-place Brentford lose 2-1 to fourth-place Fulham.
- Brentford manager Thomas Frank could be the first ever Danish manager to win a Football League promotion, while Swansea’s Steve Cooper could be only the second Welshman to win promotion to the Premier League, after Tony Pulis in 2007/08 with Stoke City, and only the third Welshman to lead a Welsh club into the top-flight (Bill Jones in 1959/60 with Cardiff & John Toshack in 1980/81 with Swansea).
Brentford
- Brentford – who lost 2-1 to Fulham in last season’s Championship Play-Off Final – are the first team to reach consecutive Championship Play-Off Finals since Aston Villa in 2018 and 2019. The only team to lose consecutive second tier Play-Off Finals was Leicester City in 1992 and 1993.
- This will be Brentford’s eighth major final match in all competitions – they have lost all of their previous seven finals, losing three in the EFL Trophy and four in the Play-Offs.
- No team has lost more Football League Play-Off Finals than Brentford (4, level with Reading and Sheffield United). They lost in 1997 to Crewe Alexandra, 2002 to Stoke City, 2013 to Yeovil Town and 2020 to Fulham.
- Brentford are looking to reach the English top-flight for the first time since the 1946/47 season, when they finished 21st and were relegated. If they are promoted, it will be 86 years since their last promotion to the top-flight (1934-35), with only Bradford City having a longer gap between top-flight promotions (1908 – 1999, a gap of 91 years).
- Including Play-Offs, Ivan Toney has been directly involved in 42 goals in 47 Championship appearances for Brentford this season (32 goals, 10 assists). Toney’s only previous appearance at Wembley was for Barnsley against Millwall in the 2016 League One Play-Off Final as a substitute, ending on the winning side that day.
Swansea City
- Swansea City are looking to return to the Premier League after their relegation in the 2017/18 season. They won in their only previous Championship Play-Off Final appearance, beating Reading 4-2 in the 2010/11 final under Brendan Rodgers.
- Swansea City striker André Ayew has scored 17 Championship goals this season (including Play-Offs), three more than any other Swans player. Ayew has scored twice previously at Wembley, netting a brace there for West Ham against Spurs in a League Cup match that saw the Hammers come from 2-0 down to win 3-2.
Thanks to Opta for kindly providing the statistics for the Play-Off Final.
Chris Kavanagh has been named as the referee for the showpiece event at Wembley Stadium, and he will be assisted by Daniel Cook and Sian Massey-Ellis, with David Coote named the fourth official.
The Welsh national anthem will be sung by George Curnow at approximately 2.55pm, with the game being broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football from 2pm.
Highlights will also be shown on Quest at 9pm on Saturday evening.
If the course of the Championship season is anything to go by, then the Final is pretty much a case of Swansea’s miserly defence against Brentford’s prolific attack, with the winners of that dual, being the most likely victors.
Hopefully, it will be Steve Cooper taking his team back to the Premier League after a 3 year absence.