Last season they were fighting at opposite ends of the table, but Barnsley vs Brentford is now a midtable affair

On Tuesday night Barnsley host Brentford at Oakwell, with the Tykes in great form having won four of their last five Championship outings. This run has seen Valérien Ismaël’s side climb up to 13th in the table. 

This a complete contrast to the Barnsley side from last season that scored an injury-time winner to stay in the second division on the final day, ironically against Tuesday’s opponent Brentford.

The Bees’ loss that evening meant that they had to accept a position in the play-offs, missing out on automatic promotion to the Premier League by the finest of margins. Losing in the final to West-London rivals was a significant blow, especially as Thomas Frank’s side don’t look near the promotion-challenging outfit they were last term.

Having lost key attacking cavalry in Ollie Watkins and Saïd Benhrama in the summer, Brentford lost 42 Championship goals, a major blow to their offensive output.

The hefty £28m fee for Watkins allowed Brentford a decent transfer kitty to dip into for the Englishman’s replacement. Peterborough’s Ivan Toney was the man identified by the Brentford scouting team and was acquired for £10m.

Last season’s League One top-scorer has settled in the second tier nicely, scoring ten goals in 12 Championship games so far for the Bees. Only Blackburn’s Adam Armstrong has scored more goals in the Championship this season than the 24-year-old.

But still, Brentford aren’t the same prospect that they were only a couple of months ago. Five points off of the play-offs and six off automatic after 12 games isn’t a terrible position to be in, but it’s certainly not reaching the standard set last campaign. 

The pain of their play-off defeat will still be raw for the Brentford players involved, but, as difficult as it is, they need to get over it.

They’ve got plenty of time to make up ground. But it needs to be done sooner rather than later and a congested Christmas period could be the perfect time to do that, starting with Tuesday’s trip to Barnsley.

As for the hosts, it’s been a refreshing start to the season and new manager Valérien Ismaël has overseen some decent results in the early stages of his Oakwell tenure. The 45-year-old was appointed in late October after Gerhard Struber was appointed New York Red Bulls manager and has overseen four wins from five games.

Back-to-back 2-0 wins over East Midlands sides Derby and Nottingham Forest either side of the international break have given them a great platform to build from and will certainly give Brentford a run for their money on Tuesday evening.

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