By Lyall Thomas

Henrik Dalsgaard has insisted that Brentford will target automatic promotion when the Championship season resumes.

The Bees have nine games to close a 10-point gap on second-placed West Brom - and they face promotion rivals Fulham in a west London derby at Craven Cottage on Saturday.

The Whites are four points ahead of Brentford, in third, and Dalsgaard hopes the absence of a crowd will work in the visitors' favour.

“We are pleased the season is returning and we have the chance to go for automatic promotion. We are trying to go for top two,” the Bees defender said.

“It’s going to be a very tough game. It’s going to be very environmental - who can get the game going?

“We both want the ball as much as possible, which will be tough away from home. But I think it will be about motivation and who can cope without fans the best.

“It’s hard to predict anything. We’ll just have to see how we cope without our fans. We have a good group who can hopefully manage without fans.

“It will be more up to us, because the crowd can’t get behind us, and for the experienced guys to get the young ones going.”

The fixture was initially scheduled to be played in March, prior to matches being suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Games will resume this weekend but it is unclear when fans will be able to attend again.