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team news
Wolves will be missing Hwang Hee-Chan, Rayan Air-Nouri and Boubacar Traore who are all on international duty. Pedro Neto could see a return to the starting line up after getting a few minutes against Everton. Gary O’Neil has said there are limited options for squad rotation and Wolves will be treating the FA Cup seriously and going with a strong lineup.
Brentford, will need to shuffle their pack in the absence of AFCON-bound Yoane Wissa (DR Congo) and Frank Onyeka (Nigeria). Saman Ghoddos is also unavailable, having been selected by Iran for the Asian Cup.
Josh Dasilva will be in the squad for Friday’s game, Brentford head coach Thomas Frank confirmed in his pre-match press conference.
GARY O'NEIL
Here are the main lines from his news conference:
O’Neil said that January is a “tough month” to do any business, adding the financial restrictions Wolves faced in the summer are also still in place.
On the club’s financial situation, he added: “It was where I knew it was at the start so it is no surprise to me and the club have been very open about it and I understand it. Zero complaints from me at all.”
On reports linking Austria striker Sasa Kalajdzic with a move away: “Yes [there is] interest in Sasa but we have a game tomorrow which he is involved in. At this moment in time he is with us and fully committed to being with us.”
He confirmed if there are outgoings in January, then there could be potential incomings.
Asked about his attacking options with Hwang Hee-chan playing for South Korea at the Asian Cup, he replied: “We have been a bit short up front but we have scored 30 goals and got 28 points and coped well so far. My job is to cope with the coming months.”
He added: “Dealing with it will come from the players we have coming off the bench and if we have injuries it will have to be under-21s, that is what we have got.”
- Gary confirmed that th team selection for Brentford in the FA Cup would be as strong as possible.
MATCH STATS & FACTS
This is the first FA Cup meeting between Brentford and Wolves. It’s just the second meeting between the sides in any cup competition, with Wolves winning 4-0 in January 1988 in the Football League Trophy.
Wolves won their most recent meeting with Brentford at Gtech Community Stadium on 27 December (4-1). The last time they won two away games against the same side was at Reading in 2002-03.
Brentford have progressed from just one of their past 16 FA Cup ties against top-flight opponents, beating Sunderland 2-1 as a League One side in 2005-06. They lost 1-0 at home to West Ham United at this stage last season.
Wolves were knocked out of the FA Cup third round last season by Liverpool in a replay. They haven’t gone out at this stage of the competition in consecutive campaigns as a top-flight side since 1975.
In his last campaign with Brentford in 2018-19, Neal Maupay was involved in a goal in all four of his FA Cup appearances, scoring three and assisting one.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Tony Harrington
Assistant referees: Daniel Robathan & George Byrne
Fourth official: Keith Stroud
VAR: Rebecca Welch
SVAR: Jarred Gillett
AVAR: Ian Hussin
MATCH INFO
The match takes place on Friday 7th January with kick off at 7.15pm at The G-Tech Stadium. This match is not shown live on UK television.