The race for promotion in this season's Championship looks set to go down to the wire and there are just seven points separating the top seven in the table.
Two of those teams with aspirations of reaching the Premier League will meet on Saturday, as Derby County welcome Brentford to Pride Park.
Derby County
© Getty Images
Just six weeks ago Derby were two points clear at the top of the Championship after a victory over Charlton Athletic and they held a further five-point lead over Ipswich Town in third place.
However, a run of seven games without a win saw them drop down to sixth in the table as their hopes of going up suffered a damaging blow.
They finally ended that slump by grinding out a 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic on Easter Monday that lifted them up to fifth and has kept them in contention for an automatic promotion spot.
With second-placed Norwich City five points ahead of them, they will have a tough job of overtaking the Canaries, but they will be able to put pressure on the rest of the top six by winning in the early kickoff.
Having missed out on promotion last season due to a heartbreaking defeat in the playoff final against Queens Park Rangers, Steve McClaren will surely be desperate for his team to rediscover their early-season form and book a top-two finish.
Recent form: DDLLDW
Brentford
© Getty Images
Sitting just a point behind Derby in the table are a Brentford side who were not expected to be challenging for a place in the top six at this stage of the season.
Survival will have been the first aim for Mark Warburton after guiding the club to promotion from League One last season, but they are seventh in the table and just a point away from a playoff berth.
They have been in decent form over the past few weeks and have suffered just one defeat in seven games, but at the end of the campaign they make look back with regret over some crucial missed opportunities.
Just before the international break they had a real chance to put pressure on the top three with a home game against struggling Millwall. They were heavily fancied to win that match, but they fell two goals behind and needed late strikes from Alex Pritchard and Moses Odubajo to rescue a draw.
It was the same story in their last game on Monday, as once again they found themselves 2-0 down in the closing stages against Nottingham Forest. This time Andre Gray and Jota were the heroes as they salvaged a point deep into injury time.
They may be happy to get away from Griffin Park, as they have won their last two games on the road and there are not many teams with better records on their travels than the Bees this season.
Recent form: DLWDWD
Team News
© Getty Images
Derby striker Chris Martin, who came off the bench to score his 20th goal of the season against Wigan, is expected to make his first start in 11 games.
George Thorne and Ryan Shotton are both ruled out, but Craig Bryson is available after missing the trip to the DW Stadium.
However, Will Hughes serves the first of a two-match suspension for picking up his 10th booking of the campaign.
Meanwhile, long-term absentee Scott Hogan is the only injury concern for Brentford, meaning that Warburton could stick with the same team that played against Forest.
Derby County possible starting lineup:
Grant, Forsyth, Keogh, Albentosa, Warnock, Russell, Bryson, Hendrick, Ince, Martin, Bent
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Button, Odubajo, Bidwell, Dean, Tarkowski, Pritchard, Judge, Diagouraga, Dallas, Jota, Gray
Head To Head
In this season's reverse fixture, Brentford came from behind to claim a 2-1 victory, with Stuart Dallas firing in a stoppage-time winner for the Bees.
Their previous meeting on this ground ended in a 5-0 win for Derby in last season's League Cup, but before that they had not played in over 10 years.
High-scoring games have been a feature whenever these teams have met and an entertaining encounter looks likely given both clubs' records in front of goal this season.
Video Preview
Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:
We say: Derby County 3-1 Brentford
Although Derby are not in the best of form, the return of Martin from injury looks to have come at a great time for them. He adds to their options in the attack and we feel that this is where they will have too much quality for Brentford, which is why we're tipping the Rams to clinch the three points.
No Data Analysis info
