The key lines from Thomas Frank’s pre-Gillingham press conference

Brentford duo Ivan Toney and Christian Norgaard will start against Gillingham in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

Toney was suspended for the Bees’ trip to the City Ground last weekend, while Norgaard hasn’t featured since late August due to an Achilles injury.

Vitaly Janelt is ‘doubtful’ after picking up a ‘minor muscle injury’.

Frank confirmed that Kristoffer Ajer, Shandon Baptiste, Aaron Hickey and Pontus Jansson will be unavailable until after the World Cup.

Having reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup in 2020/21, and the quarter-finals last season, Frank and Brentford harbour ambitions of going deep into the competition once again.

“We are playing in this competition, so we try to win it. Why not? That would be a huge thing for the Club.”

Frank continued: “I personally want to win as many games as possible. I’ll put a very strong team out there.

“We have more quality players in the squad this year. We’re pushed a little bit to the limit at the moment with so many players out, but that’s part of football - every team will have injury issues.”

Standing between Brentford and the next round are Gillingham.

The Gills currently sit 20th in Sky Bet League Two having won two of their opening 16 games, but Frank said he is expecting a ‘difficult cup game’ on Tuesday night.

“Neil Harris [Gillingham head coach] is a good friend of mine – I’m looking forward to seeing him and I’m looking forward to facing Gillingham.

“Of course, it’s a cup game. I know they are fighting in the league, but they will come and they will play direct and we need to be ready for that.

“We need to be ready for the second balls, for the set-pieces and the transition against us. That’s the plan.

“Then it’s about us; we need a good tempo, good positions and good touches. I expect a difficult cup game. I hope it will not be that difficult, but in football it’s always difficult.”