🔗 Share this article

Over halfway through the season, Brentford are in fantasy land.

With four wins in their last five outings, and a Samba striker scoring the goals, suddenly supporters are envisioning thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A emphatic 3-0 win over the Black Cats moved Keith Andrews' side into fifth in the Premier League – a place that was sufficient to secure European football last season.

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

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

No one was envisioning 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 established them in the elite division.

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

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

A year of struggle, possibly even relegation, was forecast. But here we are in the new year with Brentford in the top five.

So, what is behind their success?

Igor Thiago's Historic Campaign

The club's decision not to sign another striker was partly down to timing, with Wissa'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 club record fee, but was plagued by injury in his first campaign, going without a goal in his initial outings.

The 24-year-old has set 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.

Considering the countrymen who have come before him, that is some accomplishment, especially with 17 games remaining.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said. "He is physically intimidating, quick, powerful, but more skilled than people think. Excellent with his feet, either foot, he can score off 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 Europe's top five leagues to this point shows the level he is operating at.

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

His first goal against the opposition was his seventh opener of the season. Considering how often we are told the significance 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 thirty efforts this season has a better shooting accuracy than Igor Thiago's 59.1%.

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

Given the struggles 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 takes in his stride.

"Our scouts deserve a lot of praise for the type of players they bring in and characters," the manager said. "This is really notable. He is a really special person who has adapted to life very well. He has had to earn this path. He has earned his journey and grafted. 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 complete centre-forward."

The Manager Showing Doubters Wrong

Igor Thiago is the man of the moment 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 their previous boss, they were always seen as a team more effective than the sum of their parts.

The fear was that once the Dane left, that may not be the case, and that the collective quality of their parts alone might not be enough to stay up.

As a result, appointing Andrews, 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 test for anyone, especially when it comes in the Premier League and having made the leap from set-piece coach to the manager's office.

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 brains trust at the club, it looks as if they were spot on.

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 followed.

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

"We're in good form and playing really well. We are playing with bravery and belief in everything we do with or without the ball," Andrews added. "We are happy 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 rapidly look very otherwise.

But, for now, The Bees are defying the odds. And the longer that continues, the closer to fruition those dreams of Europe will become.