Steve Cooper has enjoyed an eventful first season as Swansea City's head coach.

Like Brendan Rodgers, who we heard from earlier, Cooper has guided the Swans to the Championship play-offs in his first campaign at the Liberty Stadium.

BBC Sport Wales' Gareth Vincent (he's had a busy few days, hasn't he?) has been taking a closer look at the makings of Cooper's career and how he got to this point. You can read the full story here.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Brendan Rodgers has had plenty to contend with towards the end of the Premier League season, with his Leicester City side missing out on Champions League qualification after today's loss to Manchester United.

But the Foxes manager has also been keeping an eye on his former team, Swansea.

He told BBC Sport Wales' Gareth Vincent it would be "amazing" if the Swans could be promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs, as they did under Rodgers' stewardship in 2011.

You can read the full interview here.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Professional golfer and Nottingham Forest fan Lee Westwood is still in disbelief at the week's events which saw Swansea leapfrog Forest with an unlikely five-goal swing on the final day.

If Swansea can beat Brentford over two legs, there is the tantalising possibility that they could face their old rivals Cardiff in a south Wales derby final at Wembley.

For their part, Cardiff will need to triumph over Fulham to set up what would be a Championship play-off final with even higher stakes than usual.

Ahead of what will be a seventh play-off campaign for each of the Welsh sides, BBC Sport Wales has had a look at Cardiff and Swansea's play-off histories and their hopes of promotion this time around in this feature.

Image source, Getty Images

This is how Thomas Frank's men are expected to look tonight.

Image source, BBC Sport

Here's a look at how Swansea will line up today.

Image source, BBC Sport

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales at the Liberty Stadium

Swansea head coach Steve Cooper keeps faith with the starting side which began the thrilling 4-1 win at Reading on the final day of the regular season, with Mike van der Hoorn fit despite concerns over a hamstring injury.

His presence is important for a squad which is so thin that there is a place on the first-team bench for the first time for 19-year-old defender Cameron Evans, while Wayne Routledge - a hero with two goals at Reading - misses out with a calf injury.

Swansea: Mulder, Roberts, Cabango, van der Hoorn, Guehi, Bidwell, Grimes, Fulton, Gallagher, Ayew, Brewster.

Subs: Gould, C Evans, Rushesha, Dhanda, Celina, Dyer, Kalulu, Garrick, Cullen.

Brentford make just one change to the side which wasted the chance to seal automatic promotion against Barnsley, with midfielder Mathias Jensen in for Emiliano Marcondes.

Thomas Frank's star men up front - Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma and Bryan Mbeumo - all start.

Brentford: Raya, Dalsgaard, Jansson, Pinnock, Henry, Jensen, Norgaard, Dasilva, Mbeumo, Watkins, Benrahma.

Subs: Daniels, Canos, Valencia, Marcondes, Dervisoglu, Jeanvier, Fosu, Baptiste, Roerslev.

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Whereas Brentford were devastated to drop into the play-offs, Swansea City pulled off an incredible final-day coup to secure their place in the top six.

At the start of play on Wednesday, the seventh-placed Swans needed to win and hope that either Cardiff City in sixth would lose at home to bottom side Hull, or that Forest - who were fifth - would be beaten by Stoke, with a five-goal turnaround in Swansea's favour.

To say the odds were against Steve Cooper's men would be an understatement akin to describing the Championship as a trifle difficult to predict.

But as Forest inexplicably unravelled at home to a Stoke side with little to play for, Swansea produced an inspired late revival at Reading to complete a staggering turnaround.

The aim now will be to maintain that momentum for what the Swans will hope will be another three matches.

A bit more on how Brentford got here...

Just over a week ago, they were in the driving seat to win automatic promotion to the Premier League.

Thomas Frank's side had looked unstoppable since the Championship season had resumed, winning all seven of their matches.

But then last weekend they slipped up at just the wrong time, losing at Stoke City.

That meant automatic promotion was no longer in their hands, giving West Brom the opportunity to secure second spot in the table.

Brentford still had a chance but they surrendered it on Wednesday by losing at home to relegation-threatened Barnsley.

That saw the Bees finish the season in third place, two points behind West Brom, on 81 points.

Can they rediscover their winning touch at the Liberty Stadium tonight?

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

The Championship's regular season came to one of the most thrilling climaxes in living memory on Wednesday night - and this evening we have the start of the next act: the play-offs.

Brentford missed out on automatic promotion to West Brom on Wednesday and, having lost their last two matches of the campaign, Thomas Frank's men will need to dust off that disappointment and try to recapture the form which made them one of the division's most impressive teams.

By contrast, Swansea City come into this match on an almighty high after completing a remarkable final-day heist to sneak into the play-offs.

They needed a highly improbable set of results to go their way but they pulled it off with a stunning 4-1 win at Reading to snatch sixth place from Nottingham Forest, who imploded by the same scoreline at home to struggling Stoke City.

Swansea are at home in tonight's first leg against Brentford.

It's sixth against third, two games away from Wembley and a shot at Premier League promotion.

Here we go!