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

With four wins in their last five outings, and a Brazilian striker scoring the goals, suddenly Bees fans 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 the fifth spot in the Premier League – a position that was good enough to secure Champions League football last season.

Solely leaders Arsenal have collected more points over the past six games.

There is a long way to go yet but Brentford are firmly in the fight for continental football.

No one was forecasting this last off-season.

The former head coach had left for Tottenham after seven years 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.

Skipper Christian Norgaard left for the North London club and goal-scoring duo Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – who scored a combined of 39 goals in the previous campaign – were also sold, joining Manchester United and Newcastle respectively.

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

A season of difficulty, possibly even the drop, was widely predicted. Yet here we are in the new year with the club in the top five.

So, how have they managed it?

The Brazilian's Historic Campaign

The club's decision not to sign another striker was in part down to timing, 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 the summer for a then-record fee, but was plagued by injury in his first campaign, going without a goal in his initial outings.

Thiago has set 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.

Considering the countrymen who have come before him, that is some accomplishment, especially with seventeen matches remaining.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," pundit an analyst said. "He is a physical specimen, fast, strong, but more skilled than people think. Good with his feet, both feet, he can score off both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. His statistics are incredible. 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 Europe's top five leagues to this point shows the standard he is playing at.

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

His first goal against the Black Cats was his 7th first goal of a game of the season. Considering how often we are told the significance of the first goal in a game, having someone you can depend on to take that early opportunity cannot be overstated.

Before the game against their opponents, no player to have attempted at least 30 shots 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.

Considering the hardships he had in his youth, where he labored in construction to support his family following the passing of his father, perhaps it should be no surprise that pressure on the pitch is something he takes in his stride.

"Our scouts deserve a lot of praise for the kind of players they bring in and personalities," the manager said. "This is really notable. He is a really unique person who has adapted to life very nicely. He has had to forge this path. He has worked for his journey and toiled. He has got real determination about his personality. He is improving his skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a largely complete centre-forward."

Andrews Proving Sceptics Wrong

Igor Thiago 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 sum of their parts.

The fear was that once the manager 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 their set-piece coach, with a blank managerial CV, and just a year at the club was seen by those outside the club as a huge risk.

A maiden role is a challenge for anyone, let alone when it comes in the world's toughest 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 right man.

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

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

Wins that, following their excellent recent form, could prove all the more important in the race for Europe.

"We are in fine fettle and playing really well. We are playing with bravery and conviction in everything we do with or without the ball," Andrews added. "We are happy with how we are going but we want to keep improving."

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 beating the odds. And the longer that continues, the closer to reality those aspirations of Europe will become.