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Over the midpoint of the campaign, The Bees are in fantasy land.

With victories in their last five outings, and a Samba striker netting the goals, suddenly supporters find themselves drifting off with thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A convincing three-nil win over Sunderland moved their manager's side into fifth in the Premier League – a position that was good enough to secure Champions League football last term.

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

There's a significant distance to go yet but Brentford are squarely in the fight for European football.

Few was predicting this last summer.

Thomas Frank had departed for Spurs after seven years in charge, a period in which he had not only guided the club to the Premier League but also cemented them in the elite division.

Skipper their Danish midfielder left for the North London club and goal-scoring duo two key forwards – who scored a total of 39 goals in the previous campaign – were also sold, joining Manchester United and Newcastle United respectively.

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

A year of difficulty, possibly even relegation, was forecast. But here we are in the new year with Brentford in the upper echelons.

So, what is behind their success?

The Brazilian's Historic Season

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

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

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 goalless in his initial outings.

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

Considering the countrymen who have preceded him, that is some accomplishment, especially with seventeen matches remaining.

"He has been a revelation," former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said. "He's a physical specimen, fast, strong, but technically better than people think. Excellent with his feet, both feet, he can score with both. You can see he's full of confidence. His statistics are incredible. He must be so proud. That's a big compliment to him."

That only a trio of global superstars have scored more in any of the continent's major leagues to this point shows the level he is playing at.

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

His opener against the Black Cats was his 7th opener of the season. Given how often we are told the significance of the initial strike in a game, having someone you can depend 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 Igor Thiago's 59.1 percent.

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

Given the hardships he had in his youth, where he worked as a bricklayer to provide for his family following the passing 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," Andrews said. "It is really impressive. He is a really special person who has fitted into life very nicely. He has had to earn this path. He has worked for his journey and toiled. He has got serious grit about his personality. He is developing his skill set constantly and we are learning more and more about him. He is a pretty complete centre-forward."

The Manager Proving Doubters Wrong

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

While they had star players – Ivan Toney, Christian Eriksen, Mbeumo and Wissa – under Frank, they were always seen as a team more effective than the individual components.

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.

As a result, appointing Andrews, with a blank managerial CV, 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 world's toughest league and having made the jump from set-piece coach to the manager's office.

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

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

Andrews won just one of his first five league games in charge but big home victories against United, the Reds and Newcastle have since occurred.

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

"We're in fine fettle and playing really good. We are playing with courage and conviction in everything we do with and without the ball," he added. "We're pleased 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, Brentford are beating the odds. And the longer that lasts, the closer to fruition those dreams of Europe will become.