Dean Smith made his defensive changes on Saturday only because he felt John Egan and Andreas Bjelland would cope best with Millwall's physical threat.

Yoann Barbet and Chris Mepham, who had both put in admirable performances in Brentford's previous game at Middlebrough, both dropped to the bench.

But with all four centre-backs having not let the side down, Bees boss Smith will face a selection headache for this Saturday's home game against Sunderland.

“Yoann was fantastic last week, along with young Chris Mepham at Middlesbrough,”said Smith. “But I've watched Millwall and the way they play, and we needed some strength there.

Clean sheet: Bjelland and Egan watch on as Nico Yennaris an Dan Bentley clear Brentford's lines on Saturday

“We needed people with experience – Egan and Bjelland will give you that. I wouldn't say we coped with it, but we managed to keep a clean sheet.”

The other change Smith made to his back four was a forced one, Josh Clarke coming in for the injured Rico Henry and impressing in an unfamiliar left back role.

“He did okay,” Smith said. “He tired towards the end, but I felt but he was our best attacking threat in the first half.

“He caused them problems down that side for the majority of the first half. In the second half he couldn't get forward as much, but he certainly stuck to his task.”