🔗 Share this article

More than halfway through the campaign, The Bees are in fantasy land.

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

A emphatic three-nil win over Sunderland moved Keith Andrews' side into the fifth spot in the top flight – a position that was good enough to secure European football last season.

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

There's a significant distance to go yet but Brentford are squarely in the fight for continental football.

Few was forecasting this last off-season.

The former head coach had departed for Tottenham after a seven-year stint in charge, a period in which he had not only got the club to the Premier League but also established them in the top flight.

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 also sold, joining Manchester United and Newcastle respectively.

Specialist coach Keith Andrews was promoted to replace the Dane, while there was no striker among the summer signings.

A year of struggle, possibly even relegation, was widely predicted. But here we are in January with the club in the upper echelons.

So, how have they managed it?

Igor Thiago's Record-breaking Campaign

The club's decision not to bring in another striker was in part 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.

Igor Thiago joined from Club Brugge in July 2024 for a then-record fee, but was plagued by injury in his first campaign, going goalless in eight appearances.

Thiago has set about making up for lost time this season, though, with his double against the Wearside club taking him to 16 league goals – the most by a player from Brazil in a single English top-flight campaign.

Given the fellow Brazilians who have preceded him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with seventeen matches left to play.

"He has been a revelation," former Liverpool midfielder an analyst said. "He is physically intimidating, fast, powerful, but technically better than people think. Good with his feet, both feet, he can score off both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. These numbers are incredible. 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 Europe's top five leagues to this point shows the standard he is operating at.

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

His first goal against the opposition was his 7th opener of the season. Given how often we are told the importance of the initial strike in a game, having someone you can rely on to take that first big chance cannot be overstated.

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 percent.

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

Given 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 high-stakes situations on the pitch is something he takes in his stride.

"The recruitment team 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 earn this path. He has earned his journey and toiled. He has got real determination about his personality. He is developing his skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a largely all-round centre-forward."

The Manager Proving Sceptics Wrong

Their star striker is the headline act but the team 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 stronger than the sum of their parts.

The fear 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.

As a result, appointing Andrews, 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, especially when it comes in the Premier League and having made the jump from specialist coach to the top job.

But given that Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna was the only other option that Brentford looked at, they were clearly convinced they had the right man.

So far, as often seems to be the case with the key decision makers at Brentford, it looks as if they were spot on.

Andrews won just a single 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 excellent recent form, could prove all the more important in the pursuit for Europe.

"We're in good form and playing really well. We are playing with bravery and conviction in everything we do with and without the ball," he added. "We are pleased with how we are going but we want to keep pushing."

In a league where the European spots and the lower mid-table are currently separated by just a handful of 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 reality those aspirations of the continent will become.