Brentford v Cardiff City. Match preview

Last updated : 13 March 2018 By Michael Morris

C:WindowsTempphp3769.tmpAndreas Bjelland is expected to miss Brentford's home game with Sky Bet Championship high-flyers Cardiff and spend some time on the sidelines.

The Danish defender was forced off after being at fault for Millwall's first-minute winner on Saturday, and Bees boss Dean Smith later revealed Bjelland had felt an injury in the warm-up.

Chris Mepham is set to come in and form a centre-back partnership with John Egan. Florian Jozefzoon missed the Millwall defeat with a gashed foot and will be checked.

Second-placed Cardiff expect to be without influential midfielder Joe Ralls again. Ralls suffered a knee injury in training and has missed Cardiff's last two games.

Craig Bryson could also miss out after limping out of Saturday's 3-2 win against Birmingham - the Bluebirds' sixth straight league success. But Callum Paterson should shake off a knee injury and Gary Madine and Sean Morrison are in contention to start after returning to the bench on Saturday after injury.

Opta stats

Brentford haven't kept a clean sheet in a league match against Cardiff since December 1998, conceding in 14 consecutive games since.

The Bluebirds haven't completed a league double over Brentford since the 2002/03 season.

In the reverse fixture, Brentford had 25 shots without scoring against the Bluebirds - only one team has had more in a Championship match this season without scoring (Brentford v Norwich, 27 in January).

Cardiff's current run of six consecutive Championship wins is the longest current run in the division.

The Bees have scored the most goals from outside the box in the Championship this season (13).

10 of the last 11 Championship goals conceded by Cardiff have been scored in the second half.

Match officials

Referee: JAMES LININGTON
Assistants: John Flynn and Matt Foley
Fourth Official: Gavin Ward