Brentford boss Thomas Frank claims his club are “maybe number one in the Premier League” at safeguarding against Covid-19.
Tottenham have confirmed eight players and five staff members have tested positive as they prepare for their Europa Conference League game against Rennes on Thursday night.
Frank was without striker Ivan Toney due to coronavirus for Sunday’s Premier League draw at Leeds, while Mads Bech Sorensen is back in contention for Friday’s home game against Watford after recently testing positive.
“I don’t think there’s much you can do to be fair,” Frank said. “We do of course take all our precautions.
“I’m pretty sure from what I’m listening to, around the different clubs, maybe we are number one in the Premier League in terms of trying to avoid Covid.
“It’s not the same that we can’t have any cases, as you’ve just seen with Ivan, but we’re definitely doing everything we can.
“We know it can come from anywhere, but in that perspective we do a lot of good things, and then if you have a positive case you need to react.”
Frank does not expect any major disruption to fixtures following the rising number of cases of the Omicron variant.
He said: “Not another stoppage of the season, or another lockdown, no. I think the UK and other countries of the world are better prepared this time and we’re in a better place.
“It’s a reality. We need to face it and behave accordingly and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll be ready for Friday.”
Brentford, 13th in the table, have won only one of their last eight Premier League games having made an impressive start to their first season back in the top flight for 74 years.
They were denied all three points at Leeds on Sunday by Patrick Bamford’s stoppage-time equaliser and will be bidding to climb seven points clear of Claudio Ranieri’s Watford with a fifth league win of the season.
When asked to assess life in the Premier League so far, Frank said: “Good fun!
“We enjoy it. We enjoy every day. Of course we know we’re the new boys in town and we like to do what we can to be an asset to the Premier League.
“We’re enjoying it and we want to try and improve every single day.”
The Bees will be without Toney for a second successive match and the suspended Sergi Canos, who scored one and assisted another at Leeds.
Finland forward Marcus Forss could make his second Premier League start in their absence and Frank confirmed all the other players named in Sunday’s squad, plus Danish defender Sorensen, were available.
