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Over halfway through the season, Brentford find themselves in dreamland.

With four wins in five games, and a Samba striker banging in the goals, suddenly supporters are dreaming of thoughts of trips to European capitals next season.

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

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

There is a long way to go yet but the West London outfit are squarely in the fight for European football.

No one was forecasting this last off-season.

Thomas Frank had departed for Spurs 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 Christian Norgaard left for Arsenal and goal-scoring duo two key forwards – who scored a combined of 39 goals in 2024-25 – were also sold, joining United and Newcastle respectively.

Specialist coach Andrews was promoted to replace Frank, while there was no striker among the off-season arrivals.

A season of difficulty, possibly even relegation, was widely predicted. Yet here we are in the new year with Brentford in the top five.

So, what is behind their success?

Igor Thiago's Historic Season

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

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

The 24-year-old 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 brace against Sunderland taking him to sixteen league goals – the highest tally by a Brazilian in a single Premier League campaign.

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

"He has been a revelation," pundit an analyst said. "He is physically intimidating, fast, powerful, but more skilled than people think. Good with his feet, either foot, he can score with both. You can see he's full of confidence. These numbers are incredible. He must be so proud. That's a big 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 important for Brentford.

His first goal against the Black Cats was his seventh opener of the season. Considering how often we are told the importance of the first goal 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 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 worked as a bricklayer to support his family following the death 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 personalities," the manager said. "This is really impressive. He is a really unique person who has adapted to life very nicely. He has had to forge this path. He has worked for his journey and grafted. He has got real determination about his personality. He is improving his abilities constantly and we are learning more and more about him. He is a largely complete centre-forward."

The Manager Showing Sceptics 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 – a host of talent – under Frank, they were always seen as a team more effective than the individual components.

The fear was that once the Dane 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 their set-piece coach, with a blank managerial CV, and just a twelve months at the club was seen by those outside the club as a huge risk.

A first managerial job is a challenge 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 Town manager one candidate was the only other alternative that Brentford looked at, they were clearly convinced they had the right man.

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

The new boss won just a single of his first 5 league games in charge but significant home victories against United, Liverpool and Newcastle have since occurred.

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

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

In a league where the European spots and the lower mid-table are currently separated by just a handful of points, they have no other option, because things could quickly look very otherwise.

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