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Over the midpoint of the season, The Bees find themselves in dreamland.

With four wins in their last five outings, and a Samba striker banging in the goals, suddenly Bees fans are dreaming of thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A convincing 3-0 win over the Black Cats moved their manager's side into fifth in the Premier League – a position that was sufficient to secure European football last season.

Solely table-toppers the Gunners have gathered more points over the past six games.

There's a long way to go yet but Brentford are firmly in the battle for continental football.

No one was predicting this last summer.

Thomas Frank had departed for Tottenham after a seven-year stint in charge, a period in which he had not only got the club promoted but also cemented them in the elite division.

Skipper Christian Norgaard left for the North London club and attacking duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a total of thirty-nine goals in 2024-25 – were also sold, joining United and Newcastle respectively.

Set-piece coach Keith Andrews was promoted to replace the Dane, while there was no striker among the off-season arrivals.

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

So, how have they managed it?

Igor Thiago's Historic Season

Brentford's decision not to bring in 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 £30m striker already waiting to go.

Igor Thiago joined from Belgium in July 2024 for a then-record fee, but was plagued by injury in his first campaign, going without a goal in eight appearances.

Thiago has gone about making up 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.

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

"He's been a revelation," former Liverpool midfielder an analyst said. "He's physically intimidating, fast, strong, but technically better than people think. Excellent with his feet, either foot, he can score off both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. His statistics are fantastic. He must be so proud. 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 shows the level he is playing at.

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

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

Before the game against Sunderland, no player to have attempted at least 30 shots this season has a better shot accuracy rate than the striker's 59.1%.

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

Given the hardships he had in his youth, where he labored in construction 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 kind of players they bring in and characters," the manager said. "This is really notable. He is a really unique person who has fitted into 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 developing his abilities constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a largely all-round centre-forward."

Andrews Proving Doubters Incorrect

Igor Thiago is the headline act but the team are not and have never been a single-player team.

While they had key individuals – Ivan Toney, Christian Eriksen, Mbeumo and Wissa – under Frank, they were always seen as a team stronger than the individual components.

The concern was that once the Dane 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 their set-piece coach, with no previous managerial experience, and just a twelve months 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 leap from set-piece coach to the top job.

But given that Ipswich boss 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 spot on.

The new boss won just one 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 form, 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 or 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 little choice, because things could quickly look very otherwise.

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