Brentford and Barnsley face off at Griffin Park on the final day of the Championship season with it all still to play for at both ends of the division.

The hosts are in contention for automatic promotion, albeit with their top-two hopes no longer in their own hands, while Barnsley are still alive in the race to beat the drop.

Match preview

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Brentford were two wins away from securing automatic promotion to the Premier League, only to suffer a shock 1-0 loss to a struggling Stoke City side on Saturday.

That brought an end to the Bees' eight-game winning run and is a huge reprieve for West Bromwich Albion, who were beaten 2-1 by Huddersfield Town less than 24 hours beforehand.

Thomas Frank's side are now relying on Queens Park Rangers to take a point at the Hawthorns on Wednesday evening.

Should the Rs achieve that, Brentford will go up with Leeds United if they beat Barnsley. Defeat for Albion, meanwhile, and a point would be enough for the Bees.

It really is a case of what if for Frank's men, though, given that they only had to beat Stoke and Barnsley to earn a first ever promotion to the Premier League.

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Still, even if results do not go their way on Wednesday, they still have the safety net of the playoffs and will enter them as strong favourites.

Barnsley have no such lifeline, knowing that anything other than three points in midweek will send them down to the third tier after just one season back in the Championship.

Even a victory is not enough on its own, with the Tykes needing teams around them to drop points.

It is a scenario Gerhard Struber will accept, though, as his side were seconds away from being relegated before Patrick Schmidt struck in the 93rd minute against Nottingham Forest.

On the back of that 1-0 win on Sunday, Struber insisted Barnsley now have the belief to overcome another promotion-chasing side in Brentford to pull off the great escape.

Brentford have not lost back-to-back league games since August, however, and Barnsley have lost three successive games on the final day of the league season.

Brentford's Championship form: WWWWWL

Barnsley's Championship form: WLDDLW

Team News

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Frank kept changes to a minimum during Brentford's winning run but brought Josh Dasilva in for Emiliano Marcondes against Stoke.

Midfielder Shandon Baptiste returned as a second-half substitute in that game after a three-match layoff, leaving Frank with near enough a full squad to choose from.

Said Benrahma is one short of 50 goal involvements in the EFL - no player has been involved in more in the Championship since his debut in 2018.

As for Barnsley, Schmidt may have earned himself a recall to the side following his match-winning impact from the bench on Sunday.

Luke Thomas and Marcel Ritzmaier returned for that most recent match, but Cauley Woodrow was overlooked for selection from the off.

That is likely to change for this huge match on Wednesday, with Kilian Ludewig expected to drop down to the bench.

Brentford possible starting lineup:
Martin; Dalsgaard, Jansson, Pinnock, Henry; Marcondes, Norgaard, Jensen; Mbeumo, Watkins, Benrahma

Barnsley possible starting lineup:
Walton; Sollbauer, Andersen, Williams; Mowatt, Halme, Ritzmaier, Styles; Woodrow; Brown, Chaplin

We say: Brentford 2-0 Barnsley

Missing out on automatic promotion would be massively cruel on Brentford, but all they can do is get the job done against Barnsley and hope for the best. The visitors picked up a huge win at the weekend and will be in high spirits here, but the Bees are unbeaten at Griffin Park since January and we cannot see that changing.

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