The key lines from Thomas Frank’s pre-Chelsea press conference, including an update on Brentford’s injured players.

Aaron Hickey won’t feature for Brentford over the coming weeks due to an ankle injury.

Head coach Thomas Frank provided a squad update during his pre-match press conference at Jersey Road.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a short-term injury,” said Frank, when asked about Hickey’s absence last time out.

“He will be out until the World Cup. He twisted his ankle and the ligament has been damaged.

“[Thomas] Strakosha is out for a longer period with an ankle injury. Pontus Jansson [hamstring] is also out for a long period. Both will likely be out until after the World Cup.

“Christian [Norgaard] is running more, which is good. He’s getting closer.”

Chelsea, the visitors to the Gtech Community Stadium on Wednesday night, are unbeaten in six games and have kept four successive clean sheets.

The Blues beat Aston Villa last weekend thanks to a goal in each half from Mason Mount.

Frank was full of praise for their new head coach Graham Potter.

“I’m very impressed with his work,” he said, “not just at Brighton but at Swansea and Östersund. What he did at Brighton was impressive; adding layers to the club and the team every single year.

“I like the way he sees football. He’s very flexible in terms of shape and using players in different positions. He’s a very nice guy when I’ve come across him in the past.

“Chelsea are a very unpredictable team to guess the line-up and shape of, which we have to expect. It was the same for Brighton as well.

“They have such a talented and gifted squad. They have more or less 22 equally good players.”

Despite the calibre of the opposition, Frank underlined his own team’s qualities.

Brentford head into Wednesday night’s West London derby after an impressive 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion.

“I was extremely pleased with the character we showed on the pitch against Brighton,” Frank continued.

“We talk tactics and I’m a big believer in that, it’s a big part of winning football matches, but the foundation is the mentality to want to run, run and run a bit more. Winning duels and being on the front foot is crucial.

“I think it’s going to be a fantastic game to witness. We know that we’re very good at home at the Gtech - we can be a threat to any team in the division, and we need to prove that again tomorrow.

“We need to be brave and try to attack, to play the game how we want to play it. Hopefully with the fans kicking us on, which they always do, it can be a very intense game.”

Earlier today, Brentford announced that the Club’s new training facility, set to open in the coming weeks, is to be named after former technical director Robert Rowan.

Rowan suffered a fatal cardiomyopathy episode in the early hours of Monday 12 November 2018 and died at the age of 28. He had been technical director since February 2018 and had been with Brentford for just short of four years.

The new facility will be named after Rowan as part of the Club’s tributes to his memory and formally opened by his family in an official ceremony later this year.

“It’s a lovely gesture,” said Frank.

“Rob played a huge part in building the Club, laying the stepping stones from where we came from to where we are now. He was a big part of the B Team and our recruitment.

“I built a personal relationship with Rob and still have a picture of him on my desk, to remind me of him and the fact that we need to enjoy every moment in the best possible way.”