“That would be amazing”- Thomas Frank addresses Brentford’s European aspirations
Brentford travel up to the midlands on Friday night to take on Leicester City. Brentford have officially broken their away duck, having won all their away fixtures in 2025 thus far. They will look to continue their travelling form against the EFL Championship holders. The Foxes have had a less than favourable return to the Premier League, sitting at 19th, currently looking to go back down to the Championship.
Thomas Frank’s Bees have had an incosistent season to say the least, yet also just five points off a potential European spot. In regards to these chances, Frank offered a neutralizing view-
“(European football) is a fantastic dream, that would be amazing, but I think it’s about focusing against Leicester (first), doing what we can, winning a difficult game under the floodlights, they have to win, so one game at a time, and get three points.”
“Then little bit further down the line, maybe being able to dream a bit more, and I think a big target for us is that we haven’t won two games in a row, so if we want to dream about these European spots, I think we probably need to show a little bit more consistency.”
“They can hurt any team”
Brentford had an incredible outing the first time against Leicester, winning 4-1 at home. Leicester City boss, Ruud Van Nistelrooy was in attendance for the fixture, seeing the challenge that lied ahead. The Dutchman has had a rough start, only winning two league games out of his first twelve.
Frank had optimistic words for his opposition manager, stating- “I think, of course, it’s a tough situation there, and it’s never nice to be in the relegation zone, even though it’s very tight down there, so I think Ruud (Van Nistelrooy) came in and gave it some structure.”
“This is a Premier League team with a lot of experience. They’ve only been down one year, a lot of those starters are players who have played a lot of games in the Premier League, so I think that means a lot.”
A growing concern?
Brentford’s biggest strength this season comes in their attacking threat. The West London side started strong on the scoring first, jointly scoring the most league goals in the season towards the end of the 2024. However, the clinicality has seen a slight dip in 2025, as Brentford have slid to 7th in terms of goals scored this season.
Frank doesn’t feel concerned about this minor decline, and in fact shows pride in the relationship his forwards have developed, stating- “I think there’s a clear relationship between the four of them, of course, but (Yoane) Wissa and Bryan (Mbeumo) got clearly a connection. I think Wissa and Dams (Mikkel Damsgaard) got a bit of a connection. I think Dams and Kevin (Schade) got a bit of a connection.”
With no ‘traditional striker’, Frank is happy with his attack producing as much threat as ever, praising his spearhead, Yoane Wissa, stating- “I just think we were very efficient in the first part of the season. I still think we created a lot of good situations. I think, actually, the West Ham game, for example, Wissa scored two goals, one of them very marginal offside, and the other one more clearly offside. I don’t think many strikers from the other Premier League teams have scored as many goals as him, so I think we have leading striker in Wissa.”
With confidence still strong in his formidable attack, Thomas Frank and Brentford hope to replicate the first performance against Leicester City, and continue on their unbeaten away form in 2025.
Kick-off is at 8pm on Friday, 21st February at the King Power Stadium.
