Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Brentford

A place in the FA Cup fourth round is up for grabs as Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford meet at Molineux in the replay of their third-round tie.

Despite being reduced to ten men for over 80, Wolverhampton displayed tremendous courage to hold Brentford to a 1-1 draw in the initial third-round meeting from their only shot on target. Manager Gary O’Neil will relish the upcoming Molineux return, considering Wolves are unbeaten in their last eight home outings (W5, D3), with only Liverpool and Brighton beating them in the West Midlands since mid-March. With a potential fourth-round Black Country derby against West Brom waiting in the wings, Wolves will be out to maintain their outstanding run of losing just one of their last ten matches against Brentford (W6, D3) and progress beyond round three for the third time in four campaigns.

There’s a feeling that Brentford spurned their chance to avoid back-to-back third-round exits in the initial leg. With Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa injured and Ivan Toney yet to return from suspension, it’s unsurprising the ‘Bees’ had lost five consecutive domestic fixtures before sharing the spoils in the aforementioned draw. A lack of firepower in the front third has seen Thomas Frank’s side score under 1.5 goals in all six matches, which has been the case in their last five clashes against Wolves. It gets worse on the road. Brentford’s ongoing four-match losing streak outside the Gtech Community Stadium features two scoring blanks and a penalty converted by Mbeumo. But since both their goals in that sequence came inside the opening 25 minutes, a quick-fire start could be on the cards.