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Over the midpoint of the season, The Bees are in a dream scenario.

With four wins in their last five outings, and a Brazilian striker scoring the goals, suddenly Bees fans find themselves drifting off with thoughts of trips to European capitals next season.

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

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

There is a significant distance to go yet but the West London outfit are squarely in the battle for continental football.

No one was envisioning this last off-season.

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

Club captain their Danish midfielder left for the North London club and goal-scoring duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a total of 39 goals in 2024-25 – were also sold, joining Manchester United and Newcastle respectively.

Specialist coach Keith Andrews was promoted to replace the Dane, while there was no striker among the summer signings.

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

So, how did they pull it off?

Igor Thiago's Historic Campaign

The club's decision not to sign another striker was partly down to circumstance, with one forward's move not being finalized until deadline day.

But they also knew they had a £30 million striker already ready and waiting.

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

Thiago has set about making up for lost time this season, though, with his double against Sunderland taking him to 16 league goals – the most by a player from Brazil in a single English top-flight campaign.

Given the countrymen who have come before him, that is some accomplishment, especially with seventeen matches left to play.

"He's been a revelation," pundit an analyst said. "He is physically intimidating, quick, powerful, but technically better than people think. Excellent with his feet, either foot, he can score with both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. These numbers 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 underscores the level he is operating at.

And it is not just the volume but the crucial nature 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 initial strike in a game, having someone you can rely on to take that first big chance cannot be overstated.

Prior to the game against their opponents, 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. Do that often enough and the goals will – and have – come.

Given the struggles he had earlier in life, where he worked as a bricklayer to provide for his family following the passing of his father, perhaps it should be no surprise that high-stakes situations on the pitch is something he handles with ease.

"Our scouts deserve a lot of credit for the kind of players they bring in and characters," Andrews said. "This is really notable. He is a really special person who has adapted to life very nicely. He has had to forge this path. He has earned his journey and toiled. He has got real determination about his personality. He is improving his skill set constantly and we are learning more and more about him. He is a pretty complete centre-forward."

Andrews Proving Sceptics Wrong

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

While they had star players – a host of talent – under their previous boss, 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 Brentford's 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 gamble.

A maiden role is a challenge for anyone, especially when it comes in the world's toughest league and having made the jump from set-piece coach to the top job.

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

So far, as often seems to be the case with the brains trust 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 Newcastle have since occurred.

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

"We are in good form and playing really well. We are playing with bravery and belief in everything we do with and without the ball," Andrews added. "We are happy with how we are going but we want to keep pushing."

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 predictions. And the longer that lasts, the closer to reality those dreams of the continent will become.