Brentford boss Thomas Frank admits Norwich City have found a ‘perfect balance’ to their play but it won’t stop the Bees going on the front foot in their top-of-the-table clash at Carrow Road on Wednesday.

City are seven points clear of second-placed Brentford but Frank is confident his side can upset the Canaries’ rhythm following the Bees’ return to form in recent weeks.

“I expect to see a game between two sides who want to dominate, want to take control of the game, and want to take the initiative,” Frank told Brentford’s official website. “We played a good game against each other in the reverse fixture; I am massively looking forward to this challenge.

“Norwich City have done incredibly well this season. They are better off than they were two seasons ago when they smashed the league. That just shows how well they are doing and how well Daniel Farke and his staff have done. You can’t praise them enough. They have found the perfect balance in what they do. We are facing a huge challenge, but we are up for it and we believe that we have something to say in that game.”

Brentford topped the league last month following Norwich’s mini-blip that culminated in the 2-0 defeat at Swansea. However, Frank’s side then encountered problems of their own, losing three consecutive matches.

They followed this up with wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke and Frank believes they are now over their recent troubles.

“In this league you can win five in a row and then lose three in a row because it is a crazy league and the margins between teams are so small,” he added. “For me it is about the performance. The concern was the performance against Coventry City so it was good to see against Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City that we defended very well.

“We gave nothing against Sheffield Wednesday and, besides a big mistake after 20 seconds, we only gave one chance away against Stoke City. I think we are in a good place and we go into this game with confidence, but I am totally aware that, against the best team in the Championship in Norwich, we can perform top and still lose.”

City will be well aware of the threat posed by the Championship’s top goalscorer in Ivan Toney. The 24-year-old has been a revelation since signing from Peterborough, plundering 25 goals so far this campaign and maintain Brentford’s reputation for producing potent strikers.

“Sometimes I think we need to be humble but in this case we need to give ourselves a little pat on the back,” said Frank. “We recruited three very good players (Ollie Watkins, Neal Maupay, and Ivan Toney) through Lee Dykes and the recruitment team, the directors of football, Phil Giles and Rasmus Ankersen, and the owner Matthew Benham and the rest of the staff have supported the players to get them to perform. It is an incredible achievement for everyone in this club. I can’t think of a Championship club who have had three different strikers score 25 goals three seasons in a row.”