Thomas Frank is preparing Brentford for a tough test at Ewood Park against a Blackburn side he feels are in a false position in the Championship table.

A win this evening would move the Bees back into the top two and put pressure on their promotion rivals ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.

But Blackburn claimed a draw with 10 men at the Community Stadium when the sides met in early December and Frank reckons Rovers are a stronger outfit than their current 14th-placed berth would suggest.

“Blackburn are an extremely interesting team in this division,” he said.

“Because of where they are in the table, I don’t think they get enough credit. They are a very tactically challenging side. They always change it a bit and they always make it difficult for you.

“Especially at the beginning of the season, they were flying offensively. They are still among the top scorers and in (Adam) Armstrong, (Harvey) Elliott, (Ben) Brereton, (Sam) Gallagher and (Bradley) Dack they have some of this division’s most interesting offensive players.

“They are much better than the position they have in the league; they have been unlucky so far.”

Brentford have no fresh injury concerns for their trip north, with Pontus Jansson back in full training as he nears a return from an ankle injury.

The postponement of last weekend’s clash at Rotherham due to positive Covid-19 cases in the Millers squad has meant a period of rest and recovery amid a hectic season for the Bees and Frank hopes his side have used the extra training time wisely.

“We gave them two days off on Saturday and Sunday and then they were back flying Monday morning,” he said.

“It was fantastic to actually be able to train Monday and Tuesday and not just have a matchday minus-one, where you can only do a bit of minor tactical work.

“We also had a B Team game on Sunday where quite a few of the first-team players got some valuable minutes.

“We are coping very well in terms of performance but there is no doubt that the players have played a lot of games in a shorter period than normal.

“It depends on what kind of narrative you want to create for the players and the surroundings. We played against Bournemouth after they had ten days off, and we had two, and we managed to beat them and I’m sure it’s happened the other way round.

“Blackburn Rovers will turn up and try to win, we will turn up and try to win. Both teams will go toe to toe and we will see who will win.”

Brentford have picked up just one point from their last four trips to Ewood Park, with their most recent win coming when Andre Gray’s 84th-minute goal sealed a 3-2 success in March 2015.