Brentford boss Thomas Frank hopes to ‘steal’ key Premier League survival tips from the likes of Crystal Palace to help boost their own bid to stay up this season.
The Bees, promoted through the Sky Bet Championship play-offs, made a memorable first top-flight appearance for 74 years with a home win over Arsenal.
Frank, though, knows after all of the jubilant scenes at the Brentford Community Stadium last Friday night, the hard graft continues as they prepare to head to tackle the Eagles and their new boss Patrick Vieira.
“I need to praise Crystal Palace because they have been in the Premier League for the last eight years and have been very consistent in everything they do,” said Frank.
“They have a low budget and constantly produce good performances in the last eight years. It is very impressive what they have achieved.”
Frank added: “It is someone we look at and think: ‘hmmm, they have done something good.’
“All the small bits we can steal from everyone and, of course, added in to our model and the way of believing, that is the way to go forward.”
Selhurst Park is set to be packed out as Eagles fan make a welcome return at full capacity, providing a white-hot reception for Frank’s squad to deal with.
“It is going to be very difficult. Selhurst Park is one of the most difficult places to go in the Premier League,” the Dane said.
“They will be on top of us from the first minute and a very strong counter-attacking team.
“When we have the ball, we need to be well organised behind the ball because we will lose it eventually, unless we put it in the back of the net, so that is where we have to be very sharp.
“It’s going to be a very tough test, but we are confident and we believe in ourselves.
“We will go there and do our very best to be brave again.”
Frank accepts life under the Premier League spotlight is something of a “circus” – one which was made even more “extreme” by the added attention following success over Arsenal.
The Bees head coach, though, is all too aware things can change very quickly if attention is allowed to slip from the job in hand.
“It will always be a fantastic memory on Friday night,” Frank said.
“However, we are not only professional, but also so dedicated to perform again on Saturday. We are only focusing on that.”
Frank added: “Confidence is vital, but we also need to keep our feet on the ground.
“We have won one game with one good performance and the players know that.”
