Thomas Frank says every single one of the players owes the fans a performance every time they go out there. The Bees boss was speaking ahead of this afternoon's London derby against Crystal Palace which sees us return to the Brentford Community Stadium for the first time in three weeks. Have a watch of Thomas' full pre-match media conference below.

Team News …

Ivan Toney did some very light bits today and will be assessed in the morning. Hopefully, he is ready because he’s one of our most important players.

Bryan and Wissa should be available for a potential start. Both were out with Covid and hadn’t trained consistently which is why we didn’t start them [at Manchester City]. Anyone can go out there and run around but for our standards, and the Premier League standards, they needed a few more trainings to make sure they are back to top level.

Christian Eriksen …

He is training well. He looks like the quality player we know he is so it’s a joy watching him play football. That is fantastic to see but he will not be available for the team tomorrow. That would always have been too early after just one week. We will have a friendly game on Monday where he will play minutes. That’s the right way to do it. The first week is ticked in terms of training and how he looks and feels. Next week is very important, especially playing these minutes at match intensity. Then we will assess him day by day.

Mood in the group …

All coaches and players would be more confident after they had won four games in a row but for me it is all about the performances. If they are consistent and at a high enough level, I will always be calm. That is what I believe in because it is such a random game. Can we consistently put these performances in, being brave, aggressive, and cool? As I said to the players today, it is so important that we approach every game believing we can win. If we keep repeating that then I will never be worried.

We’ve put performances in that have deserved more on paper. I am sure that the day it really clicks, and the ball drops our way, we will hit a really top performance. Hopefully, that is tomorrow. We will give everything, and our fans need to be bang on it. Every single game in the Premier League is a massive game for us because it is our first season here. We need to perform fantastically in every game.

All the players owe the fans a performance, every single time they step out there. We play for the fans and the club; those are the ones who mean the most for us.

The visit from Crystal Palace …

It is crucial that today was the most important day because we had to train well and prepare well for Crystal Palace. Tomorrow is so important because we are going to have to go out there and perform with high energy and intensity. We have a good chance to win. I know it will be difficult against a team who have done well this season and who have some very interesting players. Michael Olise and Wilfried Zaha are key players, Odsonne Édouard, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Christian Benteke, and Conor Gallagher have been doing fantastic for them. We know it is going to be a tough challenge, but we are ready and looking forward to it. If we can hit that good, solid, top performance then we will be fine.

I think Crystal Palace have done well in recent years building that solidness in the club. They are a very competitive Premier League club. They made a relatively big change this season to a different kind of manager in Patrick Vieira. I’m quite impressed that they are more aggressive and high-pressing. When it clicks with their front five, the three strikers and the two eights, they are really difficult to play against. We know that OIise and Zaha can create out of nothing. They invested a lot of money this summer in younger, promising players. They have done a really good job and are a club who can progress further in the coming years. They are a club that we would like to get closer to; they are a very experienced Premier League club who have done well. We need to learn from everyone.

I watched our game back this morning and three other games yesterday afternoon. The comparison between our game and the three other games was the same front-footed, aggressive, high-pressing and they want to build and be possession based. They just do it a bit better than the second game of the season.

Patrick Vieira’s impact …

We don’t get many games as managers to make it work and he’s done well. I agree they have been unlucky in terms of having more points. They’ve had some really good performances and are a threat in every game because they have that offensive quality and talent in their squad. We haven’t seen Eze at his best this season, but he did a top job last season. They can do even better but with the age and profile of the squad it is a very interesting team they have.