Brentford have had a very different season to last year with fortunes changing in the backroom and on the pitch.

Top goalscorer Andre Gray left in a big money move to Burnley with last season's stars Jota and Alex Pritchard also leavin,g with the latter returning to his parent club and the former going out on loan to Eibar.

Losing Dallas and Diagouraga was also a big loss and recently defender James Tarkowski moved to Burnley.

Thankfully for the Bees they were able to hang on to star man Alan Judge, who has been statistically the best player in the league so far.

The biggest changes however have happened behind the scenes, after it was announced last season that manager Mark Warburton was leaving the club, due to disagreements with chairman Matthew Benham.

This was despite Warburton overseeing an extraordinary season for the Bees where they reached the play-offs, before losing to Middlesbrough in the semi-finals.

Benham has tried and failed to replace him and now former Walsall manager Dean Saunders has been given the task of replicating Warburton's success with a poorer squad.

After losing these key players it was unlikely they would replicate last season's success and they currently find themselves in 10th place, eight points off the play-offs and if they can string some results together, they may just do it.

Here we look at THREE of Brentford's unsung heroes this season who have gone some way in replacing their losses in the summer.......

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PRESS THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE THE 3 PLAYERS!

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Sam Saunders

Brentford fans woke up to the news today that the veteran has signed a new contract with Brentford, showing how valued he is by the club.

An unknown quantity last season, he has burst on to the scene this season and looks an excellent prospect and gives Brentford extra work rate and pace when he is playing.

He has been struggling with injury which is why he didn't feature much last season, but his excellent performances this year show he can replace the sizeable void left behind by Pritchard and Jota who ran the flanks last year.

Lasse Vibe

Brentford fans were excited by this signing when announced, due to his excellent goalscoring record with Swedish side Goteborg, and whilst it has taken him a while, he seems to be settling in at Griffin Park.

Vibe has scored seven goals and is only behind star man Alan Judge in the scoring charts.

Bought in desperation to replace the huge void left by last season's target man Andre Gray, it looks like Vibe is the man that is living up to the fans expectation.

Jack O'Connell

The 21-year-old defender has only recently been introduced into the Brentford team and looks a good prospect.

The bad news for Brentford recently with all there players leaving was key central defender James Tarkowski handing in a transfer request, and on the last day of the window he secured his move to Burnley leaving a big gap in the back, which O'Connell must fill.

The youngster has shown early promise alongside Harlee Dean.

Happy with this Brentford fans? Who do you feel are underrated? Leave thoughts and opinions below!