Sheffield Wednesday were swarmed by the Hornets of Watford at Hillsborough on Saturday and they travel to London tonight hoping to avoid similar treatment at the hands of the Bees of Brentford.
Stuart Gray will have to make do without midfielder Sam Hutchinson as the former Chelsea player suffered yet another knee injury on Saturday. Wide midfielder Chris Maguire is expected to return to the side having served a one-match suspension.
Royston Drenthe was one of few Owls players to come out of the defeat at the weekend with any credit and he will consider himself very unfortunate if his performance against Watford does not manage to earn him a place in the starting 11 tonight.
Wednesday have been somewhat shot-shy up front of late and whoever is given the chance from Atdhe Nuhiu, Gary Madine and Stevie May this evening really needs to take their chance to impress as Stuart Gray continues to be on the lookout for a loan striker.
Midfield creativity has also been lacking recently and Giles Coke will be hoping to get a chance in that regard having found himself on the bench of late. Jacques Maghoma made a more positive impression when he reverted to a more central position on Saturday and few would be surprised to see Wednesday change from the conventional 4-4-2 formation in West London.
Brentford will be without defender James Tarkowski for the visit of the Owls as he serves a one-match suspension having picked up his 5th booking of the season. Bees manager Mark Warburton has already intimated that Harlee Dean will play in place of Tarkowski having featured to good effect earlier in the season.
Wednesday have taken just two points from their last four league games, slipping into mid-table after a strong start to the season. The Owls away form has been better than their home form with three wins, two draws and one defeat on the road so far.
Brentford have lost three of their last six games but all three defeats came against teams in the top four in the Championship and they have only lost one league game at home so far this season.
The two teams last met in the 2011/12 season. Brentford were the first team to come away from Hillsborough with any points that season – holding the Owls to a 0-0 draw in November. A 2-1 away win for Wednesday at Griffin Park on the penultimate weekend of the season put Wednesday in prime position to secure automatic promotion the following weekend.