Thomas Frank insists there is a lot more pressure on Middlesbrough than Brentford as his side gears up for a clash with the promotion hopefuls this weekend.

The Bees boss also lauded the Teesiders’ defensive record under Tony Pulis, a manager that Frank clearly has an admiration for.

“Middlesbrough are a massive club, they have one aim - going back to the Premier League," he said.

"If they don't reach that goal it will not be a disaster but it will be disappointing. Yes, there's much more pressure on them, they need to win this game against small Brentford.

"Sometimes we all get carried away with the nice offensive play, and I love it when our team put some nice passes together and the goals we scored against QPR were fantastic, it gave me a lot of joy.

"I think Tony Pulis' record as a manager and his reputation is fantastic. He's one of the most experienced and most well-known managers in English football. We can only praise him for that."

Frank has identified Brentford’s defensive record as something that his side needs to improve on and he is keen to try and replicate the form of their matchday opponents.

“It has been a problem for Brentford for years that we concede too many goals so I can only praise Middlesbrough and Tony Pulis for that, because I think it's fantastic,” said Frank.

"I would love to have a team that has only conceded 24 goals, that's unbelievable.

"We need to look at performances away and there's been some quite decent ones where we should have won more than we have.”