Thomas Frank has told his Brentford players they can still give Griffin Park a “magical” send-off as they begin their final run of games at the stadium behind-closed-doors in Friday’s promotion clash with West Brom.
Following last weekend’s dramatic late win at Fulham, belief is growing that Frank’s side could yet mount a late surge for the automatic places and victory over the top-of-the-table Baggies would see the gap on the top two closed to just five points.
The Bees’ quest to reach the Premier League this season has been intertwined with the long goodbye to their home of 116 years, but the coronavirus pandemic means fans will be absent from the final five league games at the ground, as well as a possible playoff semi-final.
“I think they walked hand-in-hand, the promotion dream and the farewell season,” Frank said. “It was linked beautifully in how we wanted to utilise both things together. The biggest thing with home advantage is fans and when they’re not in there anymore it’s not the same.
“We’ll miss them but we’ll do the best we can to make them proud and make sure they have a memorable season. Let’s imagine we are making it very magical and getting promoted – then they’ll remember it as they would have done the last six games of the season.
“We play for them. They’re with us in our hearts when we go onto the pitch.”
The home side are boosted by the return of winger Bryan Mbeumo, who is available again after missing the Championship’s restart because of a positive coronavirus test, though the Frenchman may start on the bench having missed a significant chunk of training while in self-isolation.
