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Over halfway through the season, The Bees find themselves in dreamland.

With victories in their last five outings, and a Brazilian striker banging in the goals, suddenly supporters are dreaming of thoughts of trips to Milan, Munich and Barcelona next season.

A emphatic 3-0 win over Sunderland moved their manager's side into fifth in the Premier League – a place that was sufficient to secure European football last term.

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

There is a long way to go yet but the West London outfit are firmly in the race for European football.

Few was predicting this last summer.

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

Skipper their Danish midfielder 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 promoted to replace Frank, while there was a notable absence of a centre-forward among the off-season arrivals.

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

So, how have they managed it?

Igor Thiago's Record-breaking Campaign

The club's decision not to bring in another striker was partly down to circumstance, with Wissa's move not going through until deadline day.

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

The 24-year-old joined from Club Brugge in the summer for a then-record fee, but was hindered by injury in his debut campaign, going without a goal in eight appearances.

The 24-year-old has gone about compensating for lost time this season, though, with his double against Sunderland taking him to sixteen league goals – the highest tally by a player from Brazil in a single Premier League campaign.

Given the countrymen who have preceded him, that is a remarkable feat, especially with seventeen matches remaining.

"He has been a revelation," pundit an analyst said. "He's physically intimidating, quick, strong, but technically better than people think. Excellent with his feet, either foot, he can score off both. You can see he's full of confidence. These numbers 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 the continent's major leagues to this point highlights the standard he is playing at.

And it is not just the quantity but the crucial nature of the goals that have been so important 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 importance of the first goal in a game, having someone you can depend on to take that first big chance cannot be underestimated.

Prior to the game against their opponents, no player to have attempted at least 30 shots this season has a better shooting accuracy than the striker's 59.1%.

He hits the target. Achieve that often enough 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 passing of his father, perhaps it should be unsurprising that pressure on the pitch is something he takes in his stride.

"Our scouts 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 special person who has fitted into life very well. 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 skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a pretty complete centre-forward."

Andrews Showing Doubters Wrong

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

While they had key individuals – Ivan Toney, Christian Eriksen, Mbeumo and Wissa – under their previous boss, 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 their parts alone might not be enough to avoid relegation.

Consequently, appointing Andrews, with no previous managerial experience, and just a year at the club was seen by those external observers 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 leap from set-piece coach to the top job.

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

To date, as often seems to be the case with the brains trust at Brentford, it looks as if they were vindicated.

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

Results that, following their brilliant recent form, could prove all the more important in the pursuit for European qualification.

"We are in fine fettle 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 the European spots and the lower mid-table are currently separated by just a handful of points, they have little choice, because things could rapidly look very different.

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