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More than halfway through the campaign, The Bees are in dreamland.

With four wins in their last five outings, and a Samba striker banging in the goals, suddenly Bees fans are envisioning thoughts of trips to European capitals next season.

A comprehensive 3-0 win over the Black Cats moved their manager's side into fifth in the Premier League – a place that was good enough to secure Champions League football last term.

Solely table-toppers Arsenal have gathered more points over the past half-dozen matches.

There's a long way to go yet but the West London outfit are firmly in the race for continental football.

No one was envisioning this last summer.

The former head coach had left for Tottenham after a seven-year stint in charge, a period in which he had not only guided the club to the Premier League but also cemented them in the top flight.

Club captain Christian Norgaard left for the North London club and goal-scoring duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a combined of thirty-nine goals in 2024-25 – were also sold, joining Manchester United and Newcastle respectively.

Specialist coach Keith Andrews was promoted to succeed Frank, while there was a notable absence of a centre-forward among the off-season arrivals.

A season of difficulty, possibly even the drop, was forecast. But here we are in January with Brentford in the upper echelons.

So, what is behind their success?

Igor Thiago's Historic Campaign

The club's decision not to bring in another striker was in part down to circumstance, with Wissa's move not going through until the final day of the window.

But they also knew they had a £30 million striker already waiting to go.

Igor Thiago joined from Club Brugge in July 2024 for a then club record fee, but was plagued by injury in his first campaign, going without a goal in eight appearances.

The 24-year-old has set about making up for lost time this season, though, with his brace against Sunderland taking him to sixteen league goals – the highest tally by a Brazilian in a single English top-flight campaign.

Given the fellow Brazilians who have come before him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with seventeen matches left to play.

"He's been a revelation," former Liverpool midfielder an analyst said. "He is physically intimidating, quick, strong, but technically better than people think. Good with his feet, either foot, he can score with both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. His statistics are incredible. He must be so proud. That's a huge compliment to him."

That only a trio of global superstars have scored more in any of Europe's top five leagues to this point shows the level he is operating at.

And it is not just the quantity but the crucial nature of the goals that have been so important for Brentford.

His first goal against the opposition was his 7th opener of the season. Given how often we are told the significance of the first goal in a game, having someone you can rely on to take that first big chance cannot be overstated.

Before the game against Sunderland, no player to have attempted at least thirty efforts this season has a better shooting accuracy than the striker's 59.1 percent.

He finds the target. Do that often enough and the goals will – and have – come.

Considering the hardships he had in his youth, where he labored in construction to provide for his family following the death of his father, perhaps it should be no surprise 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," the manager said. "It is really notable. He is a really special person who has fitted into life very well. He has had to earn 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."

The Manager Showing Sceptics Incorrect

Their star striker is the man of the moment but Brentford are not and have never been a single-player team.

While they had key individuals – a host of talent – under Frank, they were always seen as a team more effective than the sum of their parts.

The concern was that once the manager left, that may not be the case, and that the sum of their parts alone might not be enough to avoid relegation.

Consequently, appointing Andrews, with no previous managerial experience, and just a year at the club was seen by those external observers as a huge risk.

A first managerial job is a test for anyone, let alone when it comes in the Premier League and having made the jump from set-piece coach to the manager's office.

But given that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was the only other alternative 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 correct.

Andrews won just a single of his first 5 league games in charge but big home victories against Manchester United, Liverpool and the Magpies have since occurred.

Results that, following their brilliant recent run, could prove increasingly important in the race for European qualification.

"We're in fine fettle and playing really well. We are playing with bravery and belief 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 quickly look very different.

But, for now, The Bees are beating the predictions. And the longer that lasts, the closer to reality those aspirations of Europe will become.