Brentford FC Head Coach Thomas Frank told TalkSPORT he is paying no attention to the opening Premier League fixtures – but has admitted seeing them announced has made the Club's top-flight status seem ‘real’. On Wednesday morning, 16 June, it was confirmed that Brentford will play Arsenal at home on the first day of the 2021/22 Premier League season. The match will be played on the weekend of Saturday 14 August and the precise details will be confirmed once the TV selections have been made.

The Bees first away match will be at Crystal Palace the following weekend. A full list of Premier League fixtures can be seen here. we have also picked out the London derby dates here and some other big games here. Soon after the fixture release, Thomas spoke to TalkSPORT. The piece can be seen in full here.

He said: “I don’t care about who we’re facing in the first game to be honest! We look forward to playing in the best league in the world with some of the best teams in the world. Of course Arsenal are one of the best teams in the world, which is crazy. I really, really hope for full capacity because I can’t wait for all our fans to be back in the new stadium.

Since we got promoted, which was an unbelievable feeling, it’s been a couple weeks and we’ve tried to relax and get some holiday. There’s also been some work with transfers and stuff like that, but when you do that it’s just normal. But whether it’s a player from Championship or Premier League it doesn’t matter but this morning was the first sign that it was real. We are actually in the Premier League.”