Brentford head coach Thomas Frank.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank reckons Chelsea will soon be competing against the best teams in the Premier League under Mauricio Pochettino.
The Bees make the short trip across West London this weekend with Chelsea unbeaten in four games across all competitions and showing signs of improvement under their new manager.
“He (Pochettino) has done fantastically his whole coaching career,” Frank said during his pre-match press conference.
“He knows what it takes to build a club to a high level; you can see them moulding more and more together.
“They have so much pace on the counters, and we have to stop crosses from the side.
“Chelsea look really promising. The players they have are very high quality. Their talent and potential is really exciting.
“I can see this squad competing in two years, or maybe earlier depending on how their development goes.”
Brentford, who are 14th and two points adrift of Chelsea after beating Burnley 3-0 last weekend, have upset their neighbours on their last two visits to Stamford Bridge.
The Bees enjoyed their biggest ever win over Chelsea with a 4-1 victory in April 2022.
Twelve months later they won at Stamford Bridge again, this time by a 2-0 scoreline.
Frank said: “It’s no secret that, when we can, we want to go high in the pressure against Chelsea. We’ll do that every time we can against any opponent.
“Then we need to be aware of the ball in behind, but I think that’s a front-footed and very brave mindset to the game.
“It was a good win (against Burnley), and an important win, and a nice reminder that we are still a good team.
“We believe in ourselves and know we are a good team; we know we can create trouble for any team in this division.
“We need to bring that confidence and belief into the game against Chelsea.”
The Dane also hailed his frontline after they fired against Burnley to register a first Premier League success for two months.
Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa were both on target, while Neil Maupay had his best game since rejoining Brentford on loan from Everton last month.
“It was very promising,” Frank said. “You can see how they link up and connect.
“I asked Wissa to play a bit closer to Neal and they found each other several times.
“Hopefully, it’s the first time of many they can perform well. They are very dynamic and difficult to close down.”
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