Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has labelled Chelsea as "clear favourites" and insists Frank Lampard's side have not forgot how to play football, ahead of Wednesday's west London derby at Stamford Bridge. 

Neither side enter the fixture in desirable form. The visitors are without a win in their last six Premier League matches, while their hosts are without a win in seven in all competitions and are yet to avoid defeat in the four games since Lampard returned as head coach. 

Brentford fans will go into the derby with optimism and a fond memory of their last trip to Stamford Bridge, with the Bees earning an historic 4-1 win against the then UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup holders to register their first win over their neighbours since 1939.

Frank reflects on the result with great fondness and an occasion that he will "always remember". Even though Chelsea are underperforming this season, the 49-year-old still views them as a huge threat and insists that the five-time Premier League champions haven't forgotten how to play football. 

“Last year was a special night in Brentford’s history," he said. 

"[It was] a fantastic game I definitely will always remember. We hope that we can go perform again tomorrow and we hope that we can win.

"I think we all know that Chelsea have been struggling a little bit this season. I think Frank, I know they haven’t won, I think clearly in the four games he’s been in charge they are playing with big energy, more intensity, on the eye and also on the numbers, and I think they actually played a very good game against Real Madrid at home.

"They haven’t forgot to play football, and sometimes it takes one moment or they’ve had a good week to work with them. At Stamford Bridge, they are clear favourites, of course they should be, but we hope and believe that we can do something.”

Frank later acknowledge that while it's not for him to analyse the ongoing situation at Chelsea, the club is in a transition phase and with the influx of new players, it is natural for the project to require time to get up to speed. 

“I don’t think it’s my job to go in-depth about Chelsea.

"I think it’s obvious that they have bought a lot of players and, like any other club that buys a lot of players, they need to settle in and find the relationship and find what is working.

"They started their project last summer-ish and that will take some time before that is fully up and running."

No cause for concern after winless run was extended 

Brentford's 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at the weekend extended their winless run to six matches, dating back to their 2-0 triumph against Southampton seven weeks ago. 

Even though Frank has emphasised in the past that the club is not focussed on securing qualification for European football next season, albeit a nice feat should it be achieved, with the objective being to finish as high as possible in the table, the club's chances of competing in Europe next season is becoming increasingly scarce. 

Despite the form, which has seen them lose to Manchester United, Newcastle United, and Wolverhampton Wanderers alongside draws with Brighton & Hove Albion, Leicester City, and Aston Villa, the club has no concerns and see a lot of positives from the results. 

"For me, it’s the most difficult part of being a head coach that you, and for the players and everyone involved in the football club, you work so hard the whole week to get that win on a Saturday and when you, on top of that, [have a] top performance, I think we did against [Aston] Villa, and we don’t get the deserved three points that’s hard to accept in the logical brain.

"We look at the performances, we analyse it and we see that we are doing a lot of things right, and we’ve done that in the last six games.”

Norgaard to miss west London derby 

Brentford will have to contend without arguably the most important cog in their machine as Christian Norgaard will miss Wednesday's fixture with an achilles injury sustained on Saturday. 

Frank has described it as "nothing too serious" but has confirmed that there is no timeframe for when the Denmark international will be available for selections, with it being a case of taking it game by game.

The 29-year-old missed ten league fixtures earlier in the campaign through injury and it coincided with the club's worst results of the season; the two forgettable trips to Newcastle and Villa following a 3-0 defeat at home to current league leaders Arsenal.  

However, Frank is confident that the team will be able to function as per without him and is "fully confident"  that Vitaly Janelt will step up to perform in his absence. 

“Christian is a key player," he said. 

"There’s no doubt that David [Raya], Christian [Norgaard], Ivan [Toney] are some of the most important players in the team and Christian, the way he fills his role, defensively and offensively, is key for the way we play. 

"I think we have a very good replacement in a direct one-for-one. [...] I think Vitaly Janelt has done very well every single time he’s stepped in instead of Christianand especially this season, and also other seasons, so I’m fully confident that Vitaly will solve the task tomorrow.”

Schade has "potential we need to maximise" 

A player Brentford fans will have a keen eye on will be Kevin Schade. 

In his previous two starts at home, the recently capped German international has shown glimpses to indicate why the club is so willing to smash their transfer record to sign him permanently from Freiburg in the summer. 

Frank described his display against Aston Villa as his "best performance in a Brentford shirt" as he ran Ashley Young ragged, and the forward will have been kicking himself in frustration after producing arguably the miss of the season, having beaten Robin Olsen to his parry before rushing his shot and firing it wide of an open goal. 

He was substituted in the 77th-minute after dropping to the floor holding his hamstring. With supporters fearing the worst, the head coach confirmed to VAVEL that he will be available as it was just cramp and he was feeling fatigued. 

“We knew that when he came from Freiburg we had to build him to play with even higher intensity, plus he hasn’t played that much senior football in his career so he is working very hard to get out there and he was just very fatigued.”

With the forward growing in confidence in the Premier League and looking increasingly likely to get his first goal soon, VAVEL enquired about what the club has learnt about him since his arrival in January and where the areas of improvement are. 

"[He] has a potential that we need to maximise, to do our best to maximise," he said. 

"I think it’s clear for everyone that he is relatively quick, especially when he is running in behind, and, I think, the first bit you’d like to add in a team is that you can trust them defensively and we can do that more and more.

"I think his ability to press, his ability to know the triggers, his ability to know the key principles there, okay check, because he has his natural pace and ability to run in behind and we just need to release, so we just ‘go, go Kevin go out and express yourself and show yourself', and we are adding more and more layers also offensively and that will come.” 

Team news

Christian Norgaard is unavailable for selection as he recovers from an achilles problem; Kristoffer Ajer has returned to full training but will not be involved in the squad to face Chelsea; while Thomas Frank confirmed to VAVEL that Thomas Strakosha, who was not in the squad against Aston Villa, will be absent again due to a "minor calf strain". 

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