Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has issued a fitness update ahead of the Bees' trip to Manchester United on Saturday.

Frank is without seven first-team players at the moment - including Ivan Toney, who made his return to action earlier this week - and informed how his squad is looking ahead of this weekend's Premier League clash.

“No [players are returning]. All of them are long-term-ish," he said. "They’re definitely not available for the weekend; that's the most important thing for me.” 

Going into more detail on centre-back Ben Mee, Frank added: “He has a muscle injury. He’s progressing fine and is probably the closest to coming back."

Ahead of Brentford's visit to Old Trafford, the home and away side currently sit 10th and 14th in the Premier League, respectively.

But, as Frank has reiterated after recent games, he is more focused on the west Londoners' performances which, crucially, he has been impressed with.

"If you gave me and Eric [ten Hag] the possibility of playing a bad game on Saturday and winning, or playing a top game and then losing, for one game you would always pick to win," Frank admitted.

“But if you gave me that over 10 games, it will not be good because, eventually, it will not be right and then there will be a bigger drop. 

“Of course, we all want to win and maybe just get that luck or margin with you, but if we don't have consistent performances, it is not sustainable.” 

One player Brentford will have to keep quiet on Saturday if they are to get a good result is centre-forward Rasmus Højlund.

The summer signing from Atalanta scored two impressive goals in the Champions League on Tuesday and, despite the attacker being a fellow Dane, Frank is keen to stop him from adding to his tally this weekend.

The Bees boss said: “He's scoring goals. I know he’s not playing for Brentford, but I’m Danish and I'm happy that a Danish player is coming through and doing well. 

“I must say, it was an impressive performance for him against Galatasaray, two very good goals. He looks like he's in a very good place. 

“But hopefully we can keep him quiet on Saturday! That’s the aim.” 

Frank added: “We need to be aware of not giving him too much space to run into; he’s quick and he’s good with the timing of his runs.  

“We need to see the situations early and try to stop the balls into him - that's definitely a key area for us.”