Ian Holloway will be looking for his QPR players to stop Brentford's Ryan Woods on Monday night.

The Hoops boss is gearing up for the big west London derby and knows his side will have to dig deep to earn a result against Dean Smith's hard-working outfit.

Holloway, an admirer of Woods, has pinpointed which area of the pitch is likely to be a key factor in the match outcome.

"Midfield is a huge area where they beat us last time," said the manager.

"Woods has been the bugbear of us for the last couple of years, I think the fella is a fantastic player.

"Brentford did well to pick him up, I think they got him from Shrewsbury.

Ryan Woods

"I knew about him because Micky Mellon was his manager, but he's fitted their structure brilliantly at Brentford.

"Their centre-halves are good on the ball and they move it around, and that's the frustrating thing trying to get the ball off them."

Holloway admits Brentford should be higher in the Championship than their current position.

And even though he believes his side should be the same, he's taken his hat off to the local rivals for the way they have approached and fitted in well to the English football's second tier.

"They haven't had the season they've wanted so far," said Holloway.

Ian Holloway on the headset

"When you look at their stats and the way they've played, they should be higher up the league, but so should we.

"It's all irrelevant, you have got to earn the right, and earn the right to stay there.

"And Dean Smith has earned the right to be their manager, I thought they selected him very well.

"I think he's grabbed it, embraced it and taken it forward, so when you've got a scouting network like they've got, when they're picking their players and how much they are paying them, they have done it very, very well.

Dean Smith

"I am sure QPR fans won't want to hear say it, but Brentford have done very, very well.

"But what we've got to realise is we have to look at that sort of thing, get an identity of playing and press more than we're passing.

"We're not comfortable with it in certain areas at the moment, but that will come."