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Over halfway through the campaign, Brentford are in fantasy land.

With four wins in five games, and a Samba 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 the Black Cats moved Keith Andrews' side into the fifth spot in the Premier League – a position that was sufficient to secure European football last season.

Solely table-toppers Arsenal have accumulated more points over the past half-dozen matches.

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

No one was envisioning this last summer.

Thomas Frank had left for Spurs after a seven-year stint in charge, a period in which he had not only got the club promoted but also established them in the elite division.

Skipper their Danish midfielder left for the North London club and attacking duo two key forwards – who scored a total of 39 goals in the previous campaign – were out the door, joining Manchester United and Newcastle respectively.

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

A season of struggle, possibly even relegation, was widely predicted. Yet here we are in January with the club 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 in part 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 waiting to go.

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

Thiago has gone about compensating for lost time this season, though, with his double against Sunderland taking him to 16 league goals – the most by a player from Brazil in a single English top-flight campaign.

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

"He's been a breath of fresh air," pundit Danny Murphy said. "He is physically intimidating, fast, powerful, but more skilled than people think. Excellent with his feet, both feet, he can score off both. You can see he's brimming with confidence. These numbers are fantastic. He must be so pleased. That's a big compliment to him."

That only a trio of global superstars have scored more in any of Europe's top five 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. Given how often we are told the significance of the initial strike in a game, having someone you can rely on to take that first big chance cannot be overstated.

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

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

Considering the struggles he had in his youth, where he labored in construction 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 kind of players they bring in and characters," the manager said. "It is really impressive. He is a really unique person who has adapted to life very nicely. He has had to earn this path. He has earned his journey and toiled. He has got real determination about his personality. He is developing his abilities constantly and we are learning more and more about him. He is a largely all-round centre-forward."

Andrews Showing Doubters Incorrect

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

While they had star players – Ivan Toney, Christian Eriksen, Mbeumo and Wissa – under their previous boss, they were always seen as a team more effective 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 avoid relegation.

Consequently, appointing their set-piece coach, with a blank managerial CV, 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 challenge for anyone, especially when it comes in the Premier League and having made the leap from specialist coach to the top job.

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

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

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

Results that, following their brilliant 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 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 eight points, they have little choice, because things could quickly look very otherwise.

But, for now, Brentford are defying the odds. And the longer that continues, the closer to reality those dreams of Europe will become.