Thomas Frank
THOMAS Frank pinpointed three Cherries players his Brentford side will need to be wary of this weekend. Frank brings the Bees to Vitality Stadium on Saturday, for the first meeting of the two clubs at Premier League level. The last time the pair battled came in the Championship play-offs in May 2021, where Brentford prevailed over Jonathan Woodgate’s side 3-2 on aggregate. They went on to defeat Swansea City in the Wembley final, with Cherries joining them in the top flight with promotion last season. Looking ahead to the challenge on the south coast,
Thomas Frank said: “It will be another big challenge. I think Gary (O’Neil) and his staff and players have done a very good job. On the results side they’ve had two draws and a win, but also the performances have been very solid. They’re difficult to play against. They look good. I remember us playing them in the Championship two years ago and they have many of the same players. They were two very, very even games in the Championship, two very even games in the play-offs and I expect a very even game (on Saturday). Hopefully we’ll come out on top. We’ll go down and attack and do what we can to get three points. We know they have players that can hurt us. Especially (Dominic) Solanke I think is a very good striker. I think (Ryan) Christie has done well as well and (Marcus) Tavernier.”
O’Neil is set to take charge of his fourth game as interim boss, following the sacking of Scott Parker after Cherries’ were embarrassed 9-0 by Liverpool. Asked how impressed he is by the way Cherries have bounced back from the humiliation at Anfield,
Thomas Frank said: “It’s very impressive. Either you fall apart after a game like that, or you stick together and show that you’re stronger. We know Bournemouth is a club with a lot of experience still. It’s only two or three years ago they were in the Premier League. A lot of these players that are playing now also played in the Premier League back then. So it’s an experienced squad with good players. In this league, besides the top six, that are from another galaxy, the rest of us are more humans and we need to fight for every point. All 14 of these teams can end in a situation where it is getting tricky. Bournemouth is a good side.”
Cherries currently sit 12th in the Premier League, one point and three places behind Brentford after seven matches.
