Injury update: Pinnock, Van den Berg, Nørgaard and Thiago | OneFootball

Injury update: Pinnock, Van den Berg, Nørgaard and Thiago | OneFootball

Icon: Brentford FC

Brentford FC

·19 December 2024

Injury update: Pinnock, Van den Berg, Nørgaard and Thiago

Article image:Injury update: Pinnock, Van den Berg, Nørgaard and Thiago

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has given an injury update on both Sepp van den Berg and Ethan Pinnock, who were injured during the Bees' Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United.

Igor Thiago and Christian Nørgaard also missed Wednesday's cup clash at St James' Park, and Frank spoke about their chances for the Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

"The good news is that Christian is ready and he will, of course, start on Saturday," Frank revealed. "I haven't named the team yet but that's quite obvious.

"Sepp got a minor groin injury. I think it will be too quick to turn it around for Saturday but we will see over the next 36 hours - it will probably be too quick.


OneFootball Videos


"Ethan, I don't know the full picture, but when it's a hamstring it's never top, so it might be a longer one but I don't know yet.

"And then there's Thiago: he got a joint infection, that's very unlucky, I don't know how that happened but it happened, unfortunately. We will take care of that but I don't know how long it will take."

Mathias Jensen (hamstring), Gustavo Nunes (back), Rico Henry (knee), Aaron Hickey (hamstring) and Josh Dasilva (knee) remain sidelined.

'The good news is that Christian [Nørgaard] is ready and he will, of course, start on Saturday. I haven't named the team yet but that's quite obvious'

Frank mentioned Brentford's busy fixture schedule, as they prepare for the Premier League fixture with Forest on Saturday - their third game in seven days.

The Bees also had the shortest time between those three games, with just 140 hours (with travel), compared to Crystal Palace's 148 hours, Newcastle's 168 hours, and Liverpool's 193.

"We're not the only team in the world that plays Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday - and we've done it before," Frank stated.

"One of the biggest run of games we had was when we got promoted from the Championship, we had almost 21 games back-to-back, playing midweek and weekends, and that's with fewer resources and a smaller squad - and we managed quite well!

"Now, I'm talking about optimal preparation that gives you the best opportunities to compete in both competitions. The recovery from those games means something; there are no complaints, it is what it is.

"I got all the information and knowledge on how I could pick a team that could compete on Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday. We always take things game-by-game, but on Sunday we did have in the back of our mind about how we could prepare in the best way [for the next games].

"But, three days later, we lost three players. So that balance of having enough players to compete in every competition is something we need to get."

View publisher imprint