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Over halfway through the campaign, The Bees are in fantasy land.

Following four wins in their last five outings, and a Samba striker scoring the goals, suddenly Bees fans are envisioning thoughts of trips to European capitals next season.

A convincing three-nil win over Sunderland moved their manager's side into the fifth spot in the top flight – a position that was good enough to secure European football last season.

Only table-toppers the Gunners have accumulated more points over the past half-dozen matches.

There's a long way to go yet but the West London outfit are firmly in the battle for continental football.

No one was forecasting this last off-season.

The former head coach had left for Tottenham 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 top flight.

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

Set-piece coach Andrews was promoted to succeed the Dane, while there was no striker among the summer signings.

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

So, what is behind their success?

Igor Thiago's Historic Season

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

But they also knew they had a £30m striker already waiting to go.

The 24-year-old joined from Club Brugge in the summer for a then club record fee, but was hindered by fitness issues in his first campaign, going without a goal in his initial outings.

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

Given the fellow Brazilians who have come before him, that is some accomplishment, especially with seventeen matches remaining.

"He's been a breath of fresh air," pundit Danny Murphy said. "He is physically intimidating, quick, powerful, but technically better than people think. Good with his feet, either foot, he can score with both. You can see he's brimming with 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 Europe's top five leagues to this point shows the level he is playing at.

And it is not just the volume but the crucial nature of the goals that have been so important for Brentford.

His opener against the opposition was his seventh opener of the season. Given how often we are told the importance of the initial strike 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%.

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

Considering the struggles he had earlier in life, where he labored in construction to provide for his family following the passing of his father, perhaps it should be unsurprising that pressure on the pitch is something he handles with ease.

"Our scouts deserve a lot of credit for the kind of players they bring in and characters," Andrews said. "This is really impressive. He is a really unique person who has adapted to life very well. He has had to earn this path. He has worked for his journey and toiled. He has got serious grit about his personality. He is developing his skill set constantly and we are discovering more and more about him. He is a pretty all-round centre-forward."

Andrews Proving Sceptics Wrong

Their star striker is the man of the moment but Brentford are not and have never been a single-player team.

While they had star players – a host of talent – under Frank, they were always seen as a team stronger than the individual components.

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.

As a result, appointing their set-piece coach, with no previous managerial experience, and just a twelve months at the club was seen by those outside the club as a gamble.

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 manager's office.

But given that Ipswich Town manager 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 key decision makers at the club, it looks as if they were spot on.

Andrews won just a single of his first 5 league games in charge but big home victories against Manchester United, Liverpool and Newcastle have since occurred.

Wins that, following their excellent recent run, could prove increasingly important in the pursuit for Europe.

"We are in fine fettle and playing really good. We are playing with courage 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 eight points, they have little choice, because things could rapidly look very otherwise.

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