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

Following four wins in their last five outings, and a Brazilian striker scoring the goals, suddenly Bees fans are dreaming of thoughts of trips to European capitals next season.

A emphatic three-nil win over Sunderland moved Keith Andrews' side into fifth in the Premier League – a place that was sufficient to secure European football last term.

Only table-toppers the Gunners have gathered more points over the past six games.

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

No one was predicting this last off-season.

The former head coach had departed for Tottenham after seven years in charge, a period in which he had not only got the club promoted but also cemented them in the elite division.

Skipper their Danish midfielder left for Arsenal and attacking duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a combined of 39 goals in 2024-25 – 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 off-season arrivals.

A year of difficulty, possibly even relegation, was widely predicted. Yet here we are in the new year with the club in the upper echelons.

So, what is behind their success?

The Brazilian's Historic Season

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

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

Igor Thiago joined from Club Brugge in July 2024 for a then-record fee, but was hindered by injury in his first campaign, going goalless in his initial outings.

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

Considering the countrymen who have preceded him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with 17 games left to play.

"He's been a revelation," former Liverpool midfielder an analyst said. "He is physically intimidating, quick, powerful, but technically better than people think. Good with his feet, both feet, he can score off both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. His statistics are fantastic. He must be so pleased. 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 standard he is operating at.

And it is not just the quantity but the timing of the goals that have been so pivotal for Brentford.

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

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

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

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

"The recruitment team 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 adapted to 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 improving his skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a largely complete centre-forward."

The Manager Showing Doubters Wrong

Igor Thiago is the man of the moment but Brentford are not and have never been a one-man band.

While they had key individuals – Ivan Toney, Christian Eriksen, Mbeumo and Wissa – under Frank, they were always seen as a team more effective than the sum of their parts.

The fear was that once the Dane left, that may not be the case, and that the collective quality of their parts alone might not be enough to stay up.

As a result, appointing their set-piece coach, with no previous managerial experience, and just a twelve months at the club was seen by those outside the club as a huge risk.

A maiden role is a challenge for anyone, especially when it comes in the Premier League and having made the leap from specialist coach to the top job.

But given that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was the only other option that the hierarchy looked at, they were clearly confident they had the correct candidate.

To date, as often seems to be the case with the key decision makers at Brentford, it looks as if they were vindicated.

The new boss won just a single of his first five league games in charge but big home victories against Manchester United, the Reds and the Magpies have followed.

Wins that, following their brilliant recent run, could prove all the more important in the race for European qualification.

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

In a league where fourth and 15th are currently separated by just eight points, they have little choice, because things could rapidly look very different.

But, for now, The Bees are defying the predictions. And the longer that lasts, the closer to fruition those dreams of the continent will become.