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

With four wins in five games, 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 the Black Cats moved their manager's side into fifth in the top flight – a position that was good enough to secure Champions League football last season.

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

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

Few was envisioning 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 got the club to the Premier League but also established them in the elite division.

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

Set-piece coach Keith Andrews was promoted to replace the Dane, while there was a notable absence of a centre-forward among the off-season arrivals.

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

So, what is behind their success?

Igor Thiago's Historic Campaign

The club's decision not to bring in another striker was partly down to timing, with one forward's move not being finalized until the final day of the window.

But they also knew they had a £30m striker already waiting to go.

The 24-year-old joined from Club Brugge in the summer for a then club record fee, but was hindered by fitness issues in his debut campaign, going without a goal in eight appearances.

Thiago has gone about compensating for lost time this season, though, with his brace against the Wearside club 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 preceded him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with seventeen matches left to play.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," pundit an analyst said. "He's physically intimidating, fast, powerful, but more skilled than people think. Good 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 Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe have scored more in any of the continent's major leagues to this point underscores the standard he is playing 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 Black Cats was his 7th 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 first big chance cannot be overstated.

Prior to the game against Sunderland, no player to have attempted at least 30 shots this season has a better shooting accuracy than the striker's 59.1 percent.

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

Considering the struggles he had earlier in life, 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 takes in his stride.

"The recruitment team deserve a lot of praise for the type of players they bring in and characters," the manager said. "It is really notable. He is a really special person who has adapted to life very nicely. He has had to forge 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 learning more and more about him. He is a largely all-round centre-forward."

The Manager Showing Sceptics Wrong

Igor Thiago is the man of the moment but Brentford are not and have never been a one-man band.

While they had star players – a host of talent – under their previous boss, they were always seen as a team stronger than the individual components.

The concern was that once the manager 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 their set-piece coach, with no previous managerial experience, and just a twelve months at the club was seen by those outside the club as a huge risk.

A first managerial job is a test for anyone, let alone when it comes in the Premier League and having made the leap from specialist coach to the top job.

But given that Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna was the only other option that the hierarchy looked at, they were clearly convinced 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 one of his first 5 league games in charge but big home victories against Manchester United, the Reds and the Magpies have since occurred.

Results that, following their excellent recent run, could prove all the more important in the pursuit for European qualification.

"We are in fine fettle and playing really good. We are playing with bravery and conviction in everything we do with and without the ball," Andrews added. "We're pleased with how we are going but we want to keep striving."

In a league where the European spots and the lower mid-table are currently separated by just a handful of points, they have no other option, because things could rapidly look very otherwise.

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