More than halfway through the season, Brentford are in dreamland.
With four wins in five games, and a Brazilian striker banging in the goals, suddenly Bees fans find themselves drifting off with thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.
A comprehensive 3-0 win over Sunderland moved Keith Andrews’ side into fifth in the Premier League – a spot that was good enough to secure Champions League football last term.
Only leaders Arsenal have collected more points over the past six games.
There’s a long way to go yet but Brentford are firmly in the battle for European football.
No one was predicting this last summer.
Thomas Frank had departed for Tottenham after seven years as head coach, in which time he had not only got the club promoted but also established them in the top flight.
Club captain Christian Norgaard left for Arsenal and attacking duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a combined 39 goals in 2024-25 – were out the door as well, joining Manchester United and Newcastle respectively.
Set-piece coach Andrews was promoted to replace Frank, while there was no striker among the summer signings.
A year of struggle, possibly even relegation, was forecast. Yet here we are in January with Brentford in the top five.
So how have they managed it?
Brentford‘s decision not to bring in another striker was in part down to circumstance, with Wissa’s move not going through until deadline day.
But they also knew they had a £30m striker already waiting to go.
Igor Thiago joined from Club Brugge in July 2024 for a then club record fee, but was plagued by injury in his debut campaign, going goalless in eight appearances.
The 24-year-old has gone about making up for lost time this season, though, with his double against Sunderland taking him to 16 league goals – the most by a Brazilian in a single Premier League campaign.
Given 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 on BBC Match of the Day.
“He’s physically intimidating, quick, strong, but technically better than people think. Good with his feet, both feet, he can score off both. You can see he’s full of confidence.
“These numbers are fantastic. He must be so proud. That’s a big 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 level he is playing at.
And it is not just the quantity but the timing of the goals that have been so important for Brentford.
His first goal against the Black Cats was his seventh opener of the season. Given how often we are told the importance of the first goal in a game, having someone you can rely on to take that first big chance cannot be underestimated.
Prior to the game against Sunderland, no player to have attempted at least 30 shots this season has a better shooting accuracy than Igor Thiago’s 59.1%.
He hits the target. Do that often enough and the goals will – and have – come.
Given 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 no surprise 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 personalities,” Andrews told Match of the Day.
“It is really impressive. He is a really special person who has fitted into life very nicely. 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 learning more and more about him. He is a pretty complete centre-forward.”
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 – Ivan Toney, Christian Eriksen, Mbeumo and Wissa to name a few – 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 Brentford‘s parts alone might not be enough to stay up.
As a result, appointing Andrews, with no previous managerial experience, and just a year at the club was seen by those outside the club as a huge risk.
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 top job.
But given that Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was the only other option that Brentford looked at, they were clearly confident 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 one of his first five league games in charge but big home victories against Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle have followed.
Wins that, following their brilliant recent run, could prove all the more important in the race for Europe.
“We are in good form and playing really well. We are playing with courage and conviction in everything we do with and 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 eight points, they have no other option, because things could quickly look very different.
But, for now, Brentford are defying the odds. And the longer that lasts, the closer to reality those dreams of Europe will become.
