EFL Championship Playoff Final 2021 Preview: Brentford vs Swansea – tactical analysis

Brentford overthrew Bournemouth and Swansea ousted Barnsley to make the EFL Championship final. Thomas Frank’s side have to be noted down as the favourites after fighting back from being 2-0 down to beat The Cherries. Steve Cooper’s team are definitely strong competitors, however, and their watertight defence will be tough for Brentford to blast their way through.

Swansea will be out for revenge against Brentford, after being knocked out by The Bees in last season’s playoff semi-finals. The 2020/21 campaign saw two draws between the sides in league play, but this game has to have a victor at the end of it. Both sides have playoff experience, and both sides are looking to avenge past defeats, it should make for an exciting final.

This tactical preview will preview the tactics of both teams, the line-ups they could choose, and a final prediction as to who could win this fixture.

Predicted lineups

Brentford (3-4-1-2): David Raya; Henrik Dalsgaard, Pontus Jansson, Ethan Pinnock; Mads Roerslev, Mathias Jensen, Vitaly Janelt, Sergi Canós; Emiliano Marcondes; Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbeumo.

Brentford’s recent switch from a 4-3-3 to a 3-4-1-2 saw an upturn in form after a plethora of successive draws in the March period, but it did result in some absentees. Mads Bech Sørensen, a regular at left centre-back in their back four has made way for Pinnock in the back three. In a similar switch, Rico Henry featured frequently at left-back but has made way for Canós in the more attacking wing-back role. Josh Dasilva’s hip injury sustained in March still sees him missing out here.

Swansea (4-3-3): Freddie Woodman; Kyle Naughton, Benjamin Cabango, Marc Guéhi, Jake Bidwell; Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes, Conor Hourihane; André Ayew, Wayne Routledge, Jamal Lowe.

On the contrary to Brentford, Swansea switched from a 3-4-1-2 to a 4-3-3 after teams began to find out Steve Cooper’s side tactically. The switch to a back four moved Naughton from a right-sided centre-back to right-back, displaced Ryan Bennett as the centrepiece, and enabled Cabango and Guéhi to form a formidable partnership at the back. In both legs of the semi-final, 36-year-old Routledge’s passing was key to victory, so he should keep his place here.

Brentford’s out-ball to Mbeumo will be key

In the second half against Bournemouth, Brentford switched up their attacking play. Right-back Roerslev was forced off at the halfway point in favour of centre-forward Marcus Forss, who would go on to score the eventual winning goal of the tie. This altered Brentford’s frontline to look more like a front four, with Mbeumo moving out to the right-wing, Toney and Forss as two central strikers, and Canós pushed further forward into a left-winger role.

This also saw a switch in tactics, as there-on became a clear emphasis on playing the ball down the channel to Mbeumo, or building up down the opposite flank, creating space for Mbeumo in a wide position to aerially contest for the ball and cause damage down the right flank. Mbeumo’s individual effectiveness was limited by a generally poor first-touch and underwhelming 1v1 dribbling ability, but it happened so often that it did create some goalscoring opportunities.

Dalsgaard drives up the pitch and, in the half-space, finds Mbeumo with a through pass out wide.