🔗 Share this article

Over the midpoint of the season, The Bees are in dreamland.

With four wins in five games, and a Samba striker netting 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 sufficient to secure European football last season.

Only leaders Arsenal have collected more points over the past six games.

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

Few was forecasting this last summer.

Thomas Frank had left for Tottenham after seven years in charge, a period in which he had not only guided the club promoted but also cemented them in the elite division.

Club captain their Danish midfielder left for the North London club and attacking duo two key forwards – who scored a combined of thirty-nine goals in 2024-25 – were out the door, joining Manchester United and Newcastle United respectively.

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

A season of struggle, possibly even the drop, was forecast. Yet here we are in January with Brentford in the top five.

So, how have they managed it?

Igor Thiago's Record-breaking Season

The club's decision not to sign another striker was partly down to timing, with one forward's move not going through until deadline day.

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

The 24-year-old joined from Belgium in July 2024 for a then-record fee, but was plagued by fitness issues in his debut campaign, going goalless 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 highest tally by a player from Brazil in a single Premier League campaign.

Considering the fellow Brazilians who have preceded him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with 17 games remaining.

"He has been a breath of fresh air," former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said. "He is a physical specimen, quick, powerful, but technically better than people think. Good with his feet, both feet, he can score off both. You can see he's full of confidence. His statistics are fantastic. He must be so pleased. That's a huge 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 underscores the standard he is operating at.

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

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

Prior to the game against their opponents, 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 passing of his father, perhaps it should be no surprise that pressure on the pitch is something he takes in his stride.

"Our scouts 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 nicely. He has had to forge this path. He has worked for his journey and toiled. He has got serious grit about his personality. He is improving his skill set constantly and we are learning more and more about him. He is a largely complete centre-forward."

The Manager Proving Sceptics Wrong

Igor Thiago is the headline act 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 individual components.

The fear 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 stay up.

Consequently, appointing their set-piece coach, with a blank managerial CV, 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 leap from set-piece coach to the top job.

But given that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was the only other option 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 the club, it looks as if they were vindicated.

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

Results 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 well. We are playing with courage and belief in everything we do with or without the ball," Andrews added. "We are pleased 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 quickly look very otherwise.

But, for now, Brentford are beating the odds. And the longer that continues, the closer to fruition those aspirations of the continent will become.