Brentford are fifth in the Premier League and chasing a Champions League spot despite a summer of losing manager Thomas Frank, and frontmen Bryan Mbeumo and Yohan Wissa.
Goalkeeper Mark Flekken also departed and those outgoings could have led fans to worry the 2025/26 season was going to be a big grind for Brentford – yet that hasn’t been the case.
The Bees bought in some sound signings including Irish goalkeeper Caoimhín Kellehe, while Igor Thiago has proved a talisman this season and has already become the highest-scoring Brazilian in a Premier League campaign.
Statitics from FBREF, OPTA and Understat help us understand what has changed.
A change at the helm
Frank departed for fellow Londoners Tottenham Hotspur in the summer after almost seven years in charge of Brentford, after finishing 10th.
The Bees then made the bold choice to appoint their set-piece coach Keith Andrews as the Dane’s successor.
Rookie manager Andrew has guided his side into the Premier League’s top five after 21 games, but what is the reason for the former Republic of Ireland international’s success?
Part of it is down to Brentford scoring more late goals this season already than in the entirety of the 2024/25 campaign.
Last season, the Bees scored 11 goals after the 76-minute mark, but this time around they have already scored 13.
Andrews said: “We don’t want to sit back even when we’re winning games, we want to keep pushing on.
“I think we’re physically in a really good place as a group.”
“We’ve got a really competitive squad, we will make substitutions and refresh energy and intensity to maintain that throughout 90 minutes.
“The players are hungry to score goals.”
Igor Thiago’s impact
Thiago signed at the beginning of the 2024/25 season from Club Brugge for a then club record of £30million as a replacement for Ivan Toney, after scoring 18 league goals for the Belgian side.
His season was cut short immediately as he suffered a meniscus injury which put him out for almost the entire campaign.
With the departures of Wissa and Mbeumo, Thiago would be the main man for Brentford but was unproven after his injury-afflicted year.
Last season Wissa and Mbeumo shared the responsibility of attacking, becoming one of the best attacking combinations in the Premier League last season with 38 goals between them.
Yet now Thiago leads the way for Brentford with 16 Premier League goals, with Kevin Schade the next-highest scorer for the Bees with six.
At this same point after 21 games in in 2024/25, Mbeumo had 13 goals and Wissa had 10.
Thiago is the only one to score a hat-trick out of those three forwards, although Kevin Shade bagged a hat-trick on Matchday 13 at home to now-relegated Leicester City last season.
Mbeumo went on to score 20 league goals last season for Brentford, the majority with his left foot, and Wissa tallied 18 goals with a more even split of headers, and left and right-footed goals.
So far, Thiago has scored all of his goals inside the penalty box and five have been from the spot, with a 100% success rate.
Two have been scored inside the six-yard-box, including his goal against Sunderland where he rounded goalkeeper Robin Roefs after a through-ball from Mathias Jensen.
The other was from a deep cross from Yehor Yarmoliuk which was smashed into the roof of the net at home to Burnley.
Brentford season-ticket holder Richard said: “This bit of extra speed Thiago has with him and Schade up front, he just looks so dangerous as he runs away from defenders.
“Bryan’s quick off the mark, but he doesn’t quite have that pace.
“It just feels a bit different, it feels we could be dangerous at any time in a game and I felt last season sometimes that things became a bit more predictable.”
A World Cup call-up on the cards?
Thiago has already scored more goals in a single season than any other Brazilian who has played in the Premier League.
Compatriot Matheus Cunha scored 15 for Wolves last season and earned himself a move to Manchester United at the end of the campaign.
Martinelli and Roberto Firmino also managed 15 goals in a season, with Arsenal in 2022/23 and Liverpool in 2017/18 respectively.
His manager Andrews believes there is nothing stopping Thiago being called up to represent five-time world champions Brazil in this summer’s tournament.
The Brentford boss said: “The way he’s playing, the way his game is improving all the time.
“I think the goals get the headlines naturally, but his game is constantly improving the way we can play with him now in different ways.
“He’s just an absolute complete centre forward. can drop in, give us a base, can run in behind, immense from set pieces – an amazing character.”
Brentford fan Rory Lannigan said: “I don’t know whether they take a player from Brentford, but he should- he’s definitely good enough.
“It would be really cool to have Brentford number nine playing in the World Cup for Brazil.”
A change of goalkeepers
After Flekken departed to Germany, Brentford signed Kelleher from Liverpool.
But what has really set him apart this season has been his ability to stop penalties.
The Irishman has made four penalty saves this season in all competitions – three in the Premier League and one for the Republic of Ireland, saving from Cristiano Ronaldo against Portugal in October.
Lannigan said: “I’m more confident now if we concede the penalty now, he might save it.”
Kelleher’s nonchalant stop against Sunderland as the penalty was dinked down the middle made it his third save in the Premier League this season from five spot kicks he has faced, with another for Liverpool in the previous season.
As far as his long-ball distribution goes, Kelleher has not been as good as Flekken and Brentford fans were quite astute in knowing this.
However, his distribution is relatively equal to Flekken in terms of shorter passing.
Brentford season ticket holder Michael said: “I think his kicking is better than I anticipated and that was obviously a strong part of Flekken’s [game].
“But his kicking actually as his distribution in general has been better than I thought.
“He’s probably up there one the best in the league with his shot stopping.”
Shot stopping
Flekken had a save percentage of 73.4% last season, managed seven clean sheets, but faced one penalty which was scored.
Brentford fans, however, seem to be happier with Kelleher’s shot-stopping ability despite what the stats say.
Kelleher has managed 56 saves from 85 shots this season, conceding 28 giving him a save percentage of 69.4%.
He has kept five clean sheets from 21 appearances this season and is on course to eclipse Flekken’s shut-out tally.
Andrews said: “ I knew he’d suit the club and the, the environment and the way things work around here.
“I just think he’s relished having that number one, and he’s grown month to month.
“He’s, he’s becoming a better keeper. He’s establishing himself and the relationships he’s building with his back four, and his, his performance levels have been very, very high.”
Michael said: “Kelleher’s shot-stopping is great, he’s probably up there one the best in the league with his shot-stopping.”
Lannigan said:” He’s been so good – he’s so much better than Flekken was.
“We’ve been a lot better at the back of the season.”
Feature image: Dicken Richards
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