Brentford head coach Thomas Frank believes it would be “fantastic” for fans to be able to toast his side as the best in west London as the Bees aim to finish the season well.
A 2-0 victory at Chelsea in midweek saw Brentford move eight points clear of the beleagured Blues, while Fulham are sandwiched between the pair in 10th place.
The win also came on the back of a six-game winless run for Frank’s men as their season threatened to peter out – although they have now surpassed their points tally from the previous campaign, their first in the Premier League.
Now they host relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest on Saturday where another success will leave them as strong favourites to be the toast of the west side of the capital.
“If that could happen, of course it would be a fantastic thing,” said Frank.
“I think more for the fans than for us. I think it’s fair to say we just want to end as high as possible and if that means that two rivals are below us, OK, of course it’s fine.
“It doesn’t really matter who is below us in my mind, but I understand it from the fans’ perspective and I said that to the players before the Chelsea games, that it’s big for us to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, of course, but for the fans it’ll mean mean everything.”
As well as eclipsing their points total from last season, Brentford have also hit the 50-goal mark, having managed 48 goals across the whole of last year.
“I think that is very important,” he said of maintaining a goalscoring threat.
“Chelsea, they’ve been struggling for goals – goals are key. Everton are struggling for goals.
“It’s just a reminder of how privileged we are that we have been able to score 50 goals and hopefully we will score a lot more in the last five games.”
Forest gave their survival bid fresh impetus with victory over Brighton last time out and held Brentford to a 2-2 at the City Ground in November – with Frank all too aware his side need to be at their best to continue their upturn in form.
“First and foremost, I think every game you play in the Premier League – the day where you think it doesn’t matter is the first day where there’s complacency,” he added.
“We are very aware. Earlier this season we played against them and I think we can lose tomorrow, if we show up tomorrow and perform we could still lose – I think difference between two teams is small.
“Against Aston Villa I was disappointed, like Newcastle, disappointed we didn’t win both games actually but we lost and draw. That can happen on Saturday. So as long as we are performing, that’s the key thing.”
