🔗 Share this article

Over halfway through the campaign, Brentford find themselves in fantasy land.

Following victories in five games, and a Brazilian striker scoring the goals, suddenly Bees fans are envisioning thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A comprehensive three-nil win over the Black Cats moved their manager's side into the fifth spot in the top flight – a place that was sufficient to secure Champions League 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 the West London outfit are firmly in the race for European football.

Few was predicting this last summer.

Thomas Frank had left for Spurs after a seven-year stint 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 goal-scoring duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a combined of thirty-nine goals in the previous campaign – 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 off-season arrivals.

A year of struggle, possibly even the drop, was forecast. Yet here we are in January with the club 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 circumstance, with one forward's move not going through until deadline day.

But they also knew they had a £30m striker already chomping at the bit.

The 24-year-old joined from Club Brugge in July 2024 for a then-record fee, but was plagued by fitness issues in his debut campaign, going without a goal in his initial outings.

The 24-year-old 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 English top-flight campaign.

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

"He has been a revelation," former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said. "He is physically intimidating, fast, powerful, but technically better than people think. Excellent with his feet, both feet, he can score with both. You can see he's full of confidence. His statistics are fantastic. 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 Europe's top five leagues to this point underscores the level he is operating at.

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

His first goal against the Black Cats 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 rely on to take that first big chance 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 percent.

He hits the target. Achieve that often enough and the goals will – and have – come.

Considering the struggles he had in his youth, where he worked as a bricklayer to provide for his family following the death of his father, perhaps it should be no surprise that pressure on the pitch is something he takes in his stride.

"The recruitment team deserve a lot of credit for the type of players they bring in and characters," Andrews said. "It is really impressive. He is a really special person who has fitted into life very nicely. 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 learning more and more about him. He is a largely complete centre-forward."

Andrews Proving Sceptics Wrong

Their star striker is the headline act but Brentford are not and have never been a one-man band.

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

The concern 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 stay up.

Consequently, appointing Andrews, with no previous managerial experience, and just a twelve months at the club was seen by those outside the club as a gamble.

A first managerial job is a challenge for anyone, let alone 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 option that the hierarchy 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 correct.

The new boss won just a single of his first five league games in charge but significant home victories against United, the Reds and Newcastle have followed.

Wins that, following their brilliant recent run, could prove increasingly important in the pursuit for European qualification.

"We're in fine fettle and playing really good. We are playing with courage and conviction 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 eight points, they have little choice, because things could rapidly look very different.

But, for now, The Bees are defying the odds. And the longer that lasts, the closer to reality those aspirations of Europe will become.