Brentford head coach Thomas Frank was proud of his side's "top" performance against Manchester City in the Premier League, which ended in a narrow 1-0 defeat at Etihad Stadium.

Erling Haaland's second-half goal was the only thing that split the two teams, which came from an unfortunate slip from Kristoffer Ajer.

And, after the Bees didn't quite hit their top defensive performance levels against Liverpool, Frank was delighted with the resilience shown by his side on Tuesday night - and believes more of the same will lead to Premier League points moving forward.

He said: “I’m very proud of the players. In many ways, it was a top defensive performance and a top performance, overall. 

“Against Wolves, we took some big steps forward defensively, not only because of the clean sheet; we took a step or two backwards against Liverpool, giving some goals away we normally don't give away.  

“And, today, I think we took some big steps forward again. The goal we conceded was just such an unlucky slip from Kristoffer Ajer - they're good enough with the quality they have in their team, they don't need those kinds of margins! That was, of course, frustrating. 

“But I’m so pleased with the players' mentality, the defensive structure and principles. We gave two chances away before the goal - the Bernando Silva header and the Oscar Bobb chance - that's very little against a top team like City. 

“And, second half, they had nothing before the goal. You could see we were growing into the game, but that’s the tough part: you can do so many things right, but you don’t get anything out of it. 

“I feel for the players, they deserved something out of it tonight.” 

He added: "We need a performance like today [against West Ham]. I want to take the good bits from the other games and put them together for 90 minutes, with a little bit of margins going our way."