Bees boss expects tough test at Villa

Brentford boss Dean Smith is under no illusions of the challenge which awaits in tonight’s Championship clash at Aston Villa.

The Bees find themselves in the upper echelons of the table after an unbeaten start, like their more-vaunted opponents.

And Smith anticipates a difficult night at Villa Park against Steve Bruce’s side who are pushing for automatic promotion.

“This is a team that got 90-odd points last year and didn’t get promoted,” Smith said.

“They lost in the (playoff ) final against Fulham. They had a very good season and were very unfortunate.

“They lost some big players - John Terry, (Robert) Snodgrass, Sam Johnstone, the goalkeeper - but they’ve replaced them well and started the season where they left off last season, similar to ourselves. It’s going to be a very tough game.”

Smith insists Brentford have not revised their targets for the campaign after wins over Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday, plus a draw with Stoke.

He added: “We don’t change our expectations. The players want to keep getting better, so they’ll keep pushing each other.

“Every game we go into we try and win. The players will keep doing that.”

Reading find themselves at the wrong end of the table after three losses ahead of the trip to Blackburn, who are unbeaten after two draws and the win at Hull last time out.

Royals boss Paul Clement said on their club website: “What a hard game. Everyone has to be absolutely up for it - especially mentally.

“Blackburn is a club I used to work at and it’s always a difficult place to go to play.

“I know what the atmosphere can be like there - they’re buoyant after coming back up into the division.

“They’ll be looking to do good things this year. They just had a fantastic away result at Hull, so we expect a difficult game.”

Alex Neil takes his Preston side to former club Norwich, returning to Carrow Road for a second time in opposition.