The Premier League is back on our screens on the 12th August and with that in mind, we’ve done a season preview of every club and their chances for the upcoming season. Here, we’ve taken a look at Thomas Frank’s Brentford.

Last Season: 9th

Top Scorer: Ivan Toney (20)

Transfers In: Nathan Collins – Wolves, £23m, Romeo Beckham – Inter Miami, undisclosed, Ethan Brierley – Rochdale, undisclosed, Mark Flekken – Freiburg, £11m, Ji-Soo Kim – Seongnam, undisclosed, Kevin Schade – Freiburg, £20m

Transfers Out: Mads Bidstrup – Red Bull Salzburg, undisclosed, Halil Dervisoglu – Galatasaray, undisclosed, Alex Gilbert – Middlesbrough, free, Pontus Jansson – Malmo, free, Joel Valencia – Zaglebie Sosnowiec, free, Tariqe Fosu – Released, Saman Ghoddos – Released, Daniel Oyegoke – Bradford, loan, Fin Stevens – Oxford, loan, Ryan Trevitt – Exeter, loan

First game: Tottenham Hotspur (H)

What a job Thomas Frank has done at Brentford.

Since joining the club back in 2018, initially as an assistant, before being promoted to the head coach role, Frank has transformed the Bees from a middling championship club into an established Premier League one.

After losing a Championship playoff final in 2019, the club stuck with the Dane and they were handsomely rewarded in 2020, when Brentford finished 3rd for the second successive season and this time gained promotion via the playoffs.

Since that day, Frank and his team have defied expectations to finish in 13th in their first season in the Premier League and then going even better last year to finish 9th.

One reason for those amazing achievements has been the scouting and ingrained system being devised by Frank. If a player was sold to a bigger club, they would have someone lined up to come in and do the same job but on a smaller wage.

Another reason for their successes has been the form of England striker Ivan Toney, who has netter 63 goals for the club since joining three seasons ago.

Last year alone, he set his Premier League record tally of 20 goals but received the devastating news at the end of the season, that he would face a eight month ban from professional football, for breaching gambling regulations.

Just how will the Bees respond to losing their talisman and chief goal threat for the majority of the season? It’s perhaps the only reason I have them finishing lower than last season, down in 12th.

Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa are fine players but they are not goal machines like Toney and Brentford could struggle to replace the 27-year-old’s goals through the rest of the team.

They also look likely to lose star goal keeper David Raya, who is a £40m target for several other clubs, although as mentioned, they have moved quickly to bring in replacement Mark Flekken from Freiburg. Kevin Schade also joined on a permanent signing from the same club, having spent the second half of the season on loan last year.

Nathan Collins has also been recruited from Wolves on a club record deal to sure up the back line, after Pontus Jansson finally cut short his time in England.

All in all it looks a solid squad and Frank has shown his ability to over achieve with the assets at his disposal.

However, Betfred have the Bees as a 4/11 shot to finish in the bottom half and with no Toney in tow, I’m inclined to agree.