Brentford’s Forss to return for Watford game but Norgaard must wait

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Brentford forward Marcus Forss is set to return for Tuesday game against Watford at Vicarage Road.

Forss missed Saturday’s 3-1 win over struggling Nottingham Forest due to illness but Bees boss Thomas Frank confirmed on Monday the 21-year-old Finn is in contention for selection against the Hornets.


However, midfielder Christian Norgaard, who has been sidelined since September, is still unavailable.

“Marcus is available again but Christian won’t be,” Frank said.

“He trained well today and is getting closer but this is still a bit too soon for him.”

The in-form Bees are sixth and unbeaten in 11 games but face a tough run of fixtures where they meet fellow high-flyers Watford, Reading, Cardiff, Bournemouth and Bristol City in their next five league matches.

They also take on Newcastle in the quarter-final of the League Cup on December 22.

Last season saw Brentford embark on a run of eight successive wins to put them on the precipice of the Premier League with two matches of the season remaining.

But they imploded, losing to lowly Stoke and Barnsley when one win would have secured a spot in the top flight for the first time in over 70 years before suffering defeat against Fulham in the play-off final at Wembley.

Victories in their next five matches would put the Bees in a great position for one of the two automatic spots going in to the new year and less reliant on a making another unbeaten late charge.

Despite winning eight of their first 18 games, the same as this stage last year, Frank insists his side are better placed to push on as they sit six points behind leaders Norwich.

“I saw some stats that after 18 games last year and what I noticed was that we were 12 points behind West Brom and 10 points after Leeds,” he said.

“Later in the season we had a chance to go past both of them.

“It showed that this league is absolutely mental and you have to stay focused and concentrate on one game at a time.

“If you do that and do everything that we believe in, attitude, determination, commitment, then there will be a time (to celebrate) later in the season.

“So for us it is Watford tomorrow, Reading, then Newcastle in the cup then Cardiff and there will chances in the season to get where we want to be.

“At this stage of the season there is nothing I want to do that is different to the last four years. But that may change later in the season.”