🔗 Share this article

More than halfway through the campaign, Brentford find themselves in dreamland.

With four wins in five games, and a Samba striker scoring the goals, suddenly Bees fans find themselves drifting off with thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A comprehensive 3-0 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 season.

Only table-toppers Arsenal have accumulated more points over the past half-dozen matches.

There is a significant distance to go yet but Brentford are squarely in the race for continental football.

No one was forecasting this last off-season.

The former head coach had left for Spurs after a seven-year stint in charge, a period in which he had not only guided the club promoted but also cemented them in the top flight.

Skipper their Danish midfielder left for Arsenal 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 Andrews was promoted to succeed Frank, while there was no striker among the summer signings.

A year of struggle, possibly even the drop, was widely predicted. Yet here we are in January with Brentford in the upper echelons.

So, how did they pull it off?

The Brazilian's Record-breaking Campaign

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

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

The 24-year-old joined from Belgium in July 2024 for a then-record fee, but was hindered by injury in his first campaign, going goalless in his initial outings.

Thiago 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 player from Brazil in a single English top-flight campaign.

Given the fellow Brazilians who have come before him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with 17 games remaining.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," pundit an analyst said. "He's a physical specimen, fast, strong, but more skilled than people think. Excellent with his feet, both feet, he can score off both. You can see he's full of confidence. His statistics are incredible. He must be so pleased. 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 operating at.

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

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

Prior to the game against their opponents, no player to have attempted at least 30 shots this season has a better shot accuracy rate than Igor Thiago's 59.1%.

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 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.

"Our scouts deserve a lot of praise for the type 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 well. He has had to forge this path. He has earned his journey and toiled. He has got serious grit about his personality. He is developing his skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a pretty all-round centre-forward."

Andrews Showing Doubters Incorrect

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

While they had key individuals – a host of talent – under Frank, they were always seen as a team stronger than the sum of their parts.

The concern was that once the manager left, that may not be the case, and that the collective quality of Brentford's parts alone might not be enough to stay up.

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

But given that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was the only other alternative that Brentford looked at, they were clearly convinced they had the correct candidate.

So far, 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, Liverpool and Newcastle have followed.

Wins that, following their brilliant recent form, could prove increasingly important in the pursuit 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," he added. "We're happy with how we are going but we want to keep striving."

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

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