Frank ready for Brentford’s ‘toughest opponent so far’

Thomas Frank believes Brentford’s match against Brighton on Saturday will be their toughest Premier League test so far.

Frank’s Bees side are unbeaten after their first three top-flight games this season, having drawn with Crystal Palace and Aston Villa since beating Arsenal.

Villa and particularly Arsenal have been affected by Covid-19 cases and Palace are finding their feet under new manager Patrick Vieira.

Brighton, on the other hand, have enjoyed relative stability under manager Graham Potter and made a decent start to the season.

“I think it’s going to be our toughest opponent so far,” said the Brentford head coach.

Frank added: “That is said with the biggest respect to the three previous teams we played, for various reasons.

“Arsenal had a disrupted pre-season with Covid and injury and missed one or two players against us. Crystal Palace have a new manager and a lot of incomings. Villa also had a disrupted pre-season with Covid and other issues.

“Now we are facing a team that have had the same manager going into his third season, no issues, and are just adding extra layers.

“So this is going to be an unbelievable tough challenge.”

Brighton head to the Brentford Community Stadium having taken six points from their opening three matches.

“They were a little bit unlucky not to finish higher last season,” said Frank.

“They deserve a lot of praise for the way they approach games. They want to dominate. I really like their style of play I must say.

“I think it will be a fantastic battle on Saturday. Both teams would like to dominate as much as possible and we’ll see who’ll come out on top.”