Ahead of Saturday’s game against AFC Bournemouth, Brentford head coach Thomas Frank revealed that Mikkel Damsgaard is now competing for a starting berth.

The midfielder impressed during the international break, recording an assist in Denmark’s impressive 2-0 victory over France.

“I think we’ve done a good job, and Mikkel has done a good job, in terms of training very hard and gym work,” said Thomas, “all these bits get him up to a good level.

“He’s playing at the intensity in training and looking better and better. He got a start for Denmark, did a good job and it was a top action for the assist; a really good touch and a perfect pass across for [Kasper] Dolberg to score.

“It’s going according to plan. He hasn’t started in the Premier League, but now he’s at a stage when he can start competing for a start. He’s showing me that I should not be in doubt about starting him.”

Thomas also delivered a positive update on Ethan Pinnock, who is yet to appear for the First Team this season due to a knee injury.

“He is getting a lot closer,” said Thomas. “We talked about him earlier today in the coaching group.

“He’s looking sharper and sharper. If we didn’t have any centre-backs, could he play? Yes. But we are privileged that we have other good centre-backs that can help us so that’s why we need to play the players that are sharp and have trained for a long time."

Christian Nørgaard (achilles) and Keane Lewis-Potter (ankle ligament issue) both remain sidelined.