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More than halfway through the campaign, The Bees are in a dream scenario.

Following four wins in their last five outings, and a Brazilian striker scoring the goals, suddenly supporters find themselves drifting off with thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A emphatic 3-0 win over the Black Cats moved their manager's side into fifth in the Premier League – a place that was good enough to secure Champions League football last term.

Solely table-toppers the Gunners have accumulated more points over the past six games.

There's a long way to go yet but Brentford are squarely in the fight for European football.

No one was envisioning this last off-season.

Thomas Frank had departed 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 cemented them in the elite division.

Skipper their Danish midfielder left for the North London club and attacking duo two key forwards – 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 elevated to replace the Dane, while there was a notable absence of a centre-forward among the off-season arrivals.

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

So, how did they pull it off?

Igor Thiago's Record-breaking Campaign

Brentford's decision not to sign another striker was partly down to circumstance, with Wissa's move not being finalized until the final day of the window.

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

Igor Thiago joined from Club Brugge in the summer for a then-record fee, but was plagued by injury in his debut campaign, going without a goal in his initial outings.

Thiago has gone about making up for lost time this season, though, with his brace against Sunderland taking him to sixteen league goals – the most by a player from Brazil in a single Premier League campaign.

Considering the fellow Brazilians who have come before him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with seventeen matches remaining.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," former Liverpool midfielder an analyst said. "He is a physical specimen, fast, powerful, but technically better than people think. Excellent with his feet, both feet, he can score with both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. These numbers are incredible. 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 standard he is operating at.

And it is not just the volume but the crucial nature of the goals that have been so vital for his team.

His first goal against the Black Cats was his seventh first goal of a game of the season. Considering how often we are told the importance of the first goal in a game, having someone you can depend on to take that early opportunity 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 the striker's 59.1%.

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

Given the hardships he had earlier in life, where he worked as a bricklayer to provide for his family following the death of his father, perhaps it should be unsurprising that high-stakes situations on the pitch is something he handles with ease.

"Our scouts deserve a lot of praise for the kind of players they bring in and personalities," Andrews 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 improving his skill set constantly and we are learning more and more about him. He is a pretty all-round centre-forward."

Andrews Proving Doubters Incorrect

Their star striker 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 Frank, they were always seen as a team stronger than the individual components.

The concern 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.

Consequently, appointing Andrews, with a blank managerial CV, 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 jump from set-piece coach to the manager's office.

But given that Ipswich Town manager one candidate was the only other alternative that Brentford looked at, they were clearly confident they had the correct candidate.

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 significant home victories against United, the Reds and Newcastle have since occurred.

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

"We are in good form and playing really good. We are playing with courage and belief in everything we do with and without the ball," he added. "We are happy with how we are going but we want to keep improving."

In a league where fourth and 15th 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 beating the odds. And the longer that lasts, the closer to reality those aspirations of Europe will become.