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Over halfway through the season, Brentford find themselves in a dream scenario.

With four wins in five games, and a Samba striker banging in the goals, suddenly Bees fans are dreaming of thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A comprehensive three-nil win over the Black Cats moved Keith Andrews' side into fifth in the top flight – a place that was good enough to secure European football last term.

Only table-toppers Arsenal have collected more points over the past half-dozen matches.

There is a long way to go yet but Brentford are squarely in the battle for European football.

No one was predicting this last summer.

The former head coach had left for Spurs after seven years in charge, a period in which he had not only got the club to the Premier League but also cemented them in the top flight.

Skipper their Danish midfielder left for Arsenal and goal-scoring duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a combined of thirty-nine goals in the previous campaign – were also sold, joining Manchester United and Newcastle respectively.

Set-piece coach Andrews was promoted to replace the Dane, while there was a notable absence of a centre-forward among the summer signings.

A year of struggle, possibly even relegation, was forecast. But here we are in the new year with Brentford in the top five.

So, what is behind their success?

Igor Thiago's Historic Campaign

Brentford's decision not to sign another striker was in part down to circumstance, with Wissa's move not going through until deadline day.

But they also knew they had a £30m striker already chomping at the bit.

The 24-year-old joined from Club Brugge in July 2024 for a then-record fee, but was plagued by fitness issues in his debut campaign, going without a goal in eight appearances.

The 24-year-old has gone about making up for lost time this season, though, with his double against the Wearside club taking him to 16 league goals – the most by a Brazilian in a single Premier League campaign.

Given the fellow Brazilians who have preceded him, that is some accomplishment, especially with seventeen matches remaining.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said. "He's physically intimidating, fast, powerful, but technically better than people think. Good with his feet, either foot, he can score off both. You can see he's full of confidence. His statistics are fantastic. He must be so pleased. That's a huge compliment to him."

That only Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe have scored more in any of the continent's major leagues to this point highlights the standard he is operating at.

And it is not just the volume but the timing of the goals that have been so pivotal for his team.

His first goal against the opposition was his seventh opener of the season. Given how often we are told the importance of the initial strike in a game, having someone you can rely on to take that first big chance cannot be underestimated.

Prior to the game against Sunderland, no player to have attempted at least thirty efforts this season has a better shooting accuracy than Igor Thiago's 59.1%.

He hits the target. Achieve that often enough and the goals will – and have – come.

Considering the struggles he had earlier in life, where he labored in construction to provide for his family following the death of his father, perhaps it should be unsurprising that pressure on the pitch is something he handles with ease.

"Our scouts deserve a lot of praise for the kind of players they bring in and personalities," Andrews said. "This is really impressive. He is a really special person who has fitted into life very well. He has had to forge this path. He has worked for his journey and grafted. He has got serious grit about his personality. He is developing his skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a pretty all-round centre-forward."

Andrews Proving Doubters Wrong

Their star striker is the man of the moment but the team are not and have never been a one-man band.

While they had star players – a host of talent – under Frank, they were always seen as a team stronger than the individual components.

The fear was that once the manager left, that may not be the case, and that the sum of Brentford's parts alone might not be enough to avoid relegation.

Consequently, appointing Andrews, with a blank managerial CV, and just a year at the club was seen by those outside the club as a huge risk.

A maiden role is a test for anyone, let alone when it comes in the world's toughest league and having made the jump from specialist coach to the top job.

But given that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was the only other option that Brentford looked at, they were clearly confident they had the right man.

To date, as often seems to be the case with the brains trust at Brentford, it looks as if they were spot on.

The new boss won just one of his first five league games in charge but significant home victories against Manchester United, Liverpool and the Magpies have since occurred.

Wins that, following their excellent recent run, could prove increasingly important in the pursuit for European qualification.

"We're in fine fettle and playing really good. We are playing with courage and conviction in everything we do with or without the ball," Andrews added. "We are happy with how we are going but we want to keep striving."

In a league where fourth and 15th are currently separated by just a handful of points, they have no other option, because things could rapidly look very otherwise.

But, for now, The Bees are beating the odds. And the longer that continues, the closer to reality those dreams of Europe will become.