Thomas Frank admitted Tottenham's struggles in 2025 will not be a "quick fix", but he is determined they can improve, starting against Brentford in their first Premier League game of 2026.

Frank is returning to the Gtech Stadium, where he managed 278 league games, for the first time since leaving earlier this year.

In the reverse fixture, Spurs won 2-0 at home, which is just one of two wins they have registered in their last nine Premier League games.

They do go into Thursday's match on the back of a gritty 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, and Frank wants his side to use that as a platform to start the new year strongly.

"For a club of Tottenham's stature, we need to win more than 11 out of 37 [league] games [in 2025]," Frank said.

"This is part of a longer journey; it's not a quick fix. We are doing everything we can to improve things, bit by bit.

"I think slowly, bit by bit, adding those layers. So, we are competitive in the games where not everything is perfect. That was a big step against Palace.

"It's definitely a quality you need to have if you want to achieve something big. One thing's for sure: you're not going to play 38 perfect games. You're going to play at least 10 s*** games. Can you win three or four of them 1-0 on a rainy day? That's a lot of quality in that."

Brentford, meanwhile, are unbeaten in three matches since their loss to Spurs, winning their last two, including a stunning 4-1 win over Bournemouth last time out.

They head into this game ninth, but are just one point better off than Spurs, who sit 13th, and head coach Keith Andrews has demanded a better performance than the one on December 6.

"The close proximity of the two games means it's a nice opportunity to face them again and, more importantly, perform better," said Andrews.

"In that game, we didn't hit the heights that we had previously done in the majority of our other games.

"We need to perform individually and collectively better than we did on that day; I've spoken about it publicly and privately. We need to own that and take absolute responsibility for it."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Brentford – Kevin Schade

Kevin Schade netted three times in Brentford's 4-1 win over Bournemouth last time out, as many goals as he had netted in his previous 18 Premier League games.

Schade has also scored more Premier League goals in 2025 than any other Brentford player (13), while seven of his goals this year have put them ahead in games, and six of them have been winning goals.

Tottenham – Richarlison

Richarlison set up Archie Gray's winner in Spurs' win over Palace and now has 10 goal involvements across his 15 Premier League starts for Tottenham in 2025 (eight goals, two assists).

He also had two goals disallowed in that game, while leading the team in shots (two), touches in the opposition box (five), and chances created (three).

MATCH PREDICTION: BRENTFORD WIN

Brentford have failed to win any of their four Premier League home games against Tottenham, with three consecutive draws being followed by a 2-0 defeat last season.

However, the Bees are favoured in this tie due to their impressive home form. Brentford have won eight of their last 12 home league games (D2 L2), including four of the last five.

Spurs have won their last four Premier League matches against Brentford and have only lost one in nine overall (W5 D3), a 3-1 defeat in May 2023.

But they have lost their first league game in two of the last three calendar years (D1), including a 2-1 home loss to Newcastle in 2025. They have not lost their opening league game in consecutive calendar years since 2008 and 2009.

And Spurs lost all four of their Premier League matches in January last season, one of three teams to do so, along with Wolves and Southampton. They have lost 10 of their last 16 January games (W5 D1), with their last win coming against Frank's Brentford in 2024.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Brentford – 46%

Draw – 26.7%

Tottenham – 27.3%