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More than halfway through the season, Brentford find themselves in a dream scenario.

With victories in their last five outings, and a Brazilian striker scoring the goals, suddenly supporters are envisioning thoughts of trips to European capitals next season.

A comprehensive three-nil win over Sunderland moved their manager's side into the fifth spot in the top flight – a place that was sufficient to secure European football last term.

Only table-toppers Arsenal have gathered more points over the past six games.

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

Few was predicting this last summer.

Thomas Frank had left for Tottenham after seven years in charge, a period in which he had not only guided the club to the Premier League but also established them in the elite division.

Club captain their Danish midfielder left for Arsenal and goal-scoring duo two key forwards – who scored a total of thirty-nine goals in the previous campaign – were out the door, joining Manchester United and Newcastle United respectively.

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

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 did they pull it off?

Igor Thiago's Historic Campaign

The club's decision not to sign 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 ready and waiting.

The 24-year-old joined from Belgium in the summer for a then club record fee, but was hindered by fitness issues in his debut campaign, going goalless in his initial outings.

The 24-year-old has set about compensating for lost time this season, though, with his double against the Wearside club taking him to sixteen league goals – the highest tally by a Brazilian in a single English top-flight campaign.

Given the countrymen who have come before him, that is some accomplishment, especially with seventeen matches left to play.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said. "He is physically intimidating, fast, powerful, but more skilled than people think. Excellent with his feet, either foot, he can score off both. You can see he's full of confidence. His statistics are fantastic. He must be so proud. That's a huge 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 operating at.

And it is not just the volume but the timing of the goals that have been so pivotal for Brentford.

His opener 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 first big chance cannot be overstated.

Prior to the game against their opponents, no player to have attempted at least thirty efforts this season has a better shooting accuracy than the striker's 59.1 percent.

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

Given the hardships 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 handles with ease.

"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 fitted into life very well. He has had to forge this path. He has earned his journey and toiled. He has got serious grit about his personality. He is improving his skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a pretty complete centre-forward."

The Manager Showing Sceptics Incorrect

Igor Thiago is the man of the moment but the team are not and have never been a single-player team.

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 individual components.

The fear 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 a blank managerial CV, and just a year at the club was seen by those external observers as a gamble.

A first managerial job is a test 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 Kieran McKenna was the only other option that the hierarchy looked at, they were clearly convinced they had the correct candidate.

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

Andrews won just one of his first 5 league games in charge but significant 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 race for Europe.

"We are in good form and playing really well. We are playing with bravery and belief in everything we do with and without the ball," he added. "We're 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 eight points, they have little choice, because things could quickly look very different.

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