‘Unbelievably in sync’: big-six slayers Brentford blaze trail towards Europe

O thers may have been fretting but, back in August, Thomas Frank had no fears of second-season syndrome. It was an obvious affliction to predict for a club that punched so spectacularly above its weight on entering the Premier League: history provides several examples of subsequent letdown and the loss of Christian Eriksen, who pulled Brentford upwards last season when their form dropped, did not bode well to those assessing from afar. But Frank watched each of their matches back from start to finish in pre-season and felt convinced they had set themselves a platform for improvement. The feeling in south-west London was of quiet confidence.

“I was never worried about it,” Frank said on Friday, holding court with familiar garrulousness. “I was hugely respectful of the league and I know that if you’re not on it, or get three key injuries, or are a little bit unlucky, then you can be in big trouble. There’s nothing granted that we can stay here for ever. But how we performed last year was not lucky at all if you look at all the underlying performance indicators. Knowing the squad, knowing we didn’t want to sell anyone and knowing we had added more talent and quality, I was quite sure we could do well again.”

Even so, Brentford have exceeded every expectation so far. Avoiding defeat at home to Crystal Palace would bring up 11 unbeaten top-flight games; beating the visitors, as they must be highly fancied to, could propel Brentford to sixth and see them breathing down the neck of fifth-placed Spurs. Everything is purring and Frank knows it. “They’re a group that are unbelievably in sync right now,” he said of his players. “We have a group that are constantly adding layers to our gameplan, to our tactics.”

Last Saturday’s