Brentford vs Sheffield Wednesday
Saturday 27 August Griffin Park Sky Bet Championship Kick-off: 3pm
The Opponents
It has been a slow start to the season for last year's beaten Play-Off Finalists with just four points from their opening four matches of this campaign. After a sixth place finish last season, and a visit to Wembley, expectations were high going into the new season, and they only got higher as Wednesday's summer spending saw big names arrive at Hillsborough. Steven Fletcher and Will Buckley [Sunderland], Daniel Pudil and Almen Abdi [Watford], David Jones [Burnley], Jake Kean [Norwich City], and Vincent Sasso [Braga] all joined The Owls as Carlos Carvalhal looks to take Wednesday one step further than last season.
Everything appeared to be going to plan for Carvalhal's side as they picked up four points from two tough opening matches against Aston Villa and Norwich City. Sandwiched in between the 1-0 win over Villa and the 0-0 draw at The Canaries was a 2-1 EFL Cup defeat away at Cambridge United. Their last away trip saw a shock 3-1 defeat at newly promoted Burton Albion while a week ago Leeds United took the points at Hillsborough after a 2-0 victory to leave The Owls 20th in the early Sky Bet Championship table.
The Gaffer
After almost three years away from the game, Carlos Carvalhal joined Wednesday last June, and is now the seventh longest serving manager in the Championship, having been in his job for 14 months. The 50-year-old spent the majority of his playing career as a defender with his hometown club SC Braga, making more than 100 appearances for the club. He also had spells with Porto, Beira-Mar and Tirense before retiring, aged 32.
This is Carvalhal's 15th club management job, following spells with Sporting Lisbon, CF Belenenses and SC Braga in his native Portugal. His last position was at Turkish giants Besiktas, where he acted as caretaker manager.
The Match Officials
Referee: Peter Bankes Assistant Referees: Mark Dwyer and Nigel Lugg Fourth Official: David Rock
Ticket news
Tickets are on sale from the Braemar Road Ticket Office and online right up to kick-off on Saturday afternoon. Buy before 10am on Saturday morning and save £5 on your match tickets. For more information and to buy online click here.
Pre-Match Views
Dean Smith: “We are very much focussed on what we can do ourselves.”
Callum Elder feels he is only going to improve as he adjusts to life in the Sky Bet Championship
The Last Meeting
13 February 2016, Sky Bet Championship - Sheffield Wednesday 4 Brentford 0 Brentford XI: Button; Colin, Dean, Barbet, Bidwell; Kerschbaumer, Woods; Canos, Judge, Yennaris; Hofmann A red card shown to Yoann Barbet after only five minutes makes things difficult as The Bees are swept aside by clinical opposition.
Head to Head
Brentford wins: 9 Draws: 13 Wednesday wins: 12
Match Betting
Brentford 15/8 Wednesday 6/4 Draw 9/4 Join Club Sponsors 888sport today and get odds of 9/1 on a Brentford victory tomorrow afternoon!
Match Coverage
You can hear live match commentary on Bees Player from 2.30pm tomorrow, with Mark Burridge and Andy McCulloch.
There will be live match updates on Twitter from 2pm tomorrow.