Brentford produced a clinical performance to dispose of Nottingham Forest on Saturday, bringing the Bees nine points clear of the relegation zone and a first win in nine.
But boss Dean Smith was adamant in his dealings with the press that the Londoners wouldn’t be resting on their laurels, knowing back-to-back victories would be essential to confirming Brentford’s second-tier status for 2016/17.
The capital club entertain rock-bottom Bolton on Tuesday night and have had a handy knack of delivering knockout blows to the league’s lesser lights, returning W12-D5-L3 when entertaining bottom-half teams since the start of last season.
Taking 2015/16 as a standalone, the Bees have picked up just two points from a possible 45 against clubs in the top-nine. When playing teams in 10th and below, Brentford have W13-D5-L5 – that’s a 1.91 points-per-game average as they’ve notched at least twice in 13/23 (57%) outings.
Brentford can be backed at 1.70 to take all three points this midweek and that’s a steal considering Bolton are almost certainly down and out and appeared to throw in the towel following Neil Lennon’s sacking, with Wanderers hammered 6-0 at Bristol City in their last Championship away date.
The visitors have collected just four points from a possible 57 (W0-D4-L15) on the road this season, shipping two or more goals in 14 of those 19 fixtures. No second-tier side has faced more on-target attempts on their travels and only MK Dons have fired in fewer away from home.
It should be a comfortable home triumph.