Thomas Frank saluted his ‘incredible’ Brentford players for achieving Premier League Mission Impossible after they battled to a dramatic 2-1 win against Aston Villa.
Mads Roerslev's late strike snatched all three points for the Bees to fire newly-promoted Brentford above Steven Gerrard’s big-spending Villa in the table.
Brentford are continuing to attract national plaudits for punching above their weight this season and Frank, 48, says he’s loving watching his team surpass all top-flight expectations.
The Dane said: "It shouldn't be possible that we're above Villa with the amount of money they've spent on their squad in the last two or three years.
💥 The 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 way to start 2022#BrentfordFC #BREAVL pic.twitter.com/P3B4q0gjxk
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) January 2, 2022
“I think they're a good club, so the fact that we're above them is quite good. I think they have a very good squad. I think they have very good players.
“I think they had a very good manager [Dean Smith], and they also have a very good manager now.
"But it was a game that could easily, and maybe should have, been a draw, but a tight game that we saw out in the end, and now we just need to continue.
"We've played half our games in the Premier League, with the injuries we've had I think it's incredible what we've done - but we want more of course.
"We looked tired, for whatever reason. I don't know why. I think in that respect it's even more impressive that we got the three points.
"I think these wins are the bigger wins. We didn't play our best football today but managed still to win a tight game, which is impressive.”
Villa hitman Danny Ings had fired the visitors in front at the Brentford Community Stadium but Brentford, fresh off the back of festive defeats against Brighton and Manchester City, rallied superbly.
Yoane Wissa curled them level on the stroke of half-time before Danish wing-back Roerslev, 22, completed the turnaround with his maiden professional goal.
💬 "There's not much to say; it's just an amazing feeling"
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) January 3, 2022
Yesterday's match-winner talks through his first Bees goal#BrentfordFC #BREAVL pic.twitter.com/9FUZwyqF5s
The result lifts Brentford up to 12th in the Premier League table, one point ahead of Villa and – crucially – a considerable 12 points above the drop zone.
Brentford travel to League Two Port Vale in the FA Cup third round on Saturday and Frank hopes a week on the training ground can get them back fit and firing on all cylinders.
He added: “I think it’s good for us to have a full week to recover and get up to speed.
“We seemed flat today in spells but we managed to get over the line, which is the most important thing.
“We’ll now regroup, recover and train as hard as we can and get ready to perform well in the FA Cup.”
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