Brentford must somehow find a way of stopping the in-form Patrick Bamford, admits their manager Dean Smith.
The 24-year-old former Chelsea marksman will be returning to London today and bidding to improve his remarkable run of eight goals in his last five appearances.
Smith has therefore targeted keeping the ball away from him as much as possible while trying to take the lion’s share of possession.
However, Hull, Sunderland, Birmingham, Leeds and Barnsley probably had the same idea – and they couldn’t manage it.
“We plan to stop him scoring,” Smith told Get West London. “How we can though as he’s a good footballer. They’ve got a lot of good players. We’ve got that as well. There’ll be some good battles on the pitch. If we can keep the ball as well as we have done then we starve them of feeding him somewhat.”
Boro are up to sixth in the Championship and a couple of points clear of Sheffield United following a trio of successive victories.
Next in their sights in terms of the table are Derby County, currently just a single-point better off, while form team Fulham are six ahead of them.
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