Southampton boss Alan Pardew reckons Brentford are favourites to walk away from St Mary's Stadium with three points on Saturday.

Brentford eased past Norwich City 2-1 on Tuesday - to remain among the League One top seven - at the same time rock-bottom Saints were losing 1-0 at Swindon Town.

Bees boss Andy Scott added Britol City defender James Wilson to his ranks this week as cover for injured centre-back Alan Bennett, but should name a relatively unchanged side for the trip to the south coast.

And former West Ham United chief Pardew believes that gives the Bees the edge as he looks to get the Saints' season on track after a slow start for the former Championship outfit.

"Brentford are a good side," he said.

"If you were to ask a football person who would probably be the favourites for this game I think most people would say Brentford, because they’ve got their system nailed down.

"Most of the players there know what it’s about and we are kind of trying to get ourselves sorted out in what we are.

"The identity of our team will be determined by the characters within it and people rarely remember that.

"The manager puts the team together with a view of how the team should play, but ultimately the characters within it will determine the style.

"We’ll get better and we’ll get stronger as we go.

"But in the short term the fans and myself want a victory to make us all feel better and to give us all a good vision of what’s hopefully going to come later on in the season."