The Brentford squad and staff walked the perimeter of the Gtech at full-time with That’s the Way (I Like It) booming over the speakers, soaking in the applause.

No 9 Igor Thiago, who had scored a brace in the 3-0 win over Sunderland, bobbed his head to the beat.

Former Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou once said Spurs wanted their home ground to be a “nightclub” instead of a fortress. Keith Andrews and Brentford are doing both.

Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland are the 13th different team to visit the Gtech from the start of last season and take nothing home. Bournemouth, Newcastle United and Manchester United have all lost twice there since August 2024.

“Nobody comes here and gets an easy game,” Andrews told reporters.

Brentford are six games unbeaten after consecutive 2-0 defeats to Arsenal and Spurs. At the pinch point of the season they have won four (including 4-2, 4-1 and 3-0 scorelines) and had two low-scoring draws.

After 21 games they are fifth, above Newcastle, Manchester United and Chelsea (in sixth, seventh and eighth), with a points total of 33 well on track to match the club record of 59 from 2022-23 under Thomas Frank — who, now as Spurs head coach, finds himself six points and nine places beneath his former club.

So much for Keith Andrews only being a humble set-piece coach, promoted to fill the Frank void. The reality is that Brentford are one of the league’s most inspiring and influential teams.

Keith Andrews has guided Brentford into the reckoning for Champions League qualification (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Often, such acclaim is considered only for ‘big’ clubs — Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and their possession game, or how Jurgen Klopp kick-started the modern pressing movement at Liverpool.

But as my colleague Michael Cox wrote of Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United in 2020, with his extreme man-marking tactics, hardly anyone plays like Guardiola’s City, Klopp’s Liverpool, or Bielsa’s Leeds.

Brentford dispatching Sunderland showed how and why they have helped change the tactical direction, equalling the biggest defeat handed out to this season’s surprise package (Sunderland also lost 3-0 away to City).

Their third goal came on 73 minutes after Mathias Jensen’s inswinging corner — the kind which has become the league’s stock ball — dropped and midfielder Yehor Yarmoliuk fired in.

For just over an hour before that, Brentford had been, in Le Bris’ words as opposition coach: “strong, direct, relentless.”

The speed at which they counter-attacked and sent long balls, from midfield third regains especially, was like lightning.

Thiago netted the opener from one such move when Vitaly Janelt landed on a loose pass. The forward thrives in big open spaces and now on 16 goals — the most in a Premier League season by a Brazilian — he is just four adrift of the league’s top scorer Erling Haaland.

Brentford are the best team in the division for fast-break goals (nine), and Thiago’s strength helps. He grappled tirelessly versus Sunderland centre-back Omar Alderete, and stretched the centre-backs — his yellow card on 43 minutes came from hauling a defender over following an overhit long ball.

Strikers like him are coming back into fashion. “I wouldn’t be swapping him for anybody,” Andrews said of Thiago.

Igor Thiago has scored 16 goals in the Premier League this season (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

“He’s been sensational, the way he’s affected the league, the types of goals that he’s scoring now compared to earlier in the season. He’s obviously really good in the air, (has) calmness in front of the goal,” Andrews added.

“It’s not just the goals, it’s his overall performance, the selfless way he plays, he doesn’t just stay between two centre-backs and look to poach goals. He leads the line, runs channels, presses back, he’s amazing from (defensive) set pieces. A complete centre-forward.”

Increasingly, the Premier League is a counter-attacking and direct division. Shots from fast breaks have risen every year since 2020-21, and goals from those attacks last season (112) were more than double the number in 2021-22 (54).

Brentford set up to hit Sunderland on counter-attacks, knowing how Le Bris’ side can defend for long periods and are watertight, conceding just three in their past five before coming to south-west London.

Andrews picked Jensen, Janelt and Yehor Yarmoliuk as his midfield trio, providing a balance of physicality and energy. There’s a reason the Premier League is getting taller.

Andrews left the more creative, diminutive Mikkel Damsgaard on the bench. He picked raw pace on the wings in Keane Lewis-Potter and Kevin Schade, who played off Thiago excellently.

Brentford switch between a 4-4-2 zonal defensive block and man-to-man pressing, an approach which was honed under Frank, and can be seen across the league. Guardiola always hated playing Frank’s Brentford because they could defend deep and stubbornly for long periods and be aggressive upfield, too.

To an extent, the genesis of Arsenal’s set-piece strength can be traced to Brentford’s first Premier League game (and win) over Mikel Arteta’s side at the Gtech in August 2021, when they scored from a long throw.

Now almost one in every three attacking throw-ins go into the box. Brentford right-back Michael Kayode, an outstanding all-rounder and creator, noted his frustration in the matchday programme about only being known for his long throws.

Set-piece goals have risen, now accounting for 28 per cent of goals. Yarmoliuk, in adding the gloss on the win, scored just Brentford’s second goal from a corner this season — Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and United are the top teams in that metric.

The promoted sides (Burnley, Leeds United and Sunderland) have followed the Brentford blueprint, prioritising physicality, duel-winners, set pieces, while also being tactically flexible between back threes and back fours.

“They’re always important, we say it all the time,” Andrews said of Le Bris’ claim that duels were a deciding factor in the result.

The biggest compliment is that teams are raiding Brentford. United bought Bryan Mbeumo and Newcastle United signed Yoane Wissa, a duo with 39 goals last term, in the summer. Former goalkeeper David Raya and club captain Christian Norgaard are at Arsenal.

Their data-driven recruitment, once a unique quirk, is now, on some level, commonplace across the league.

Andrews is calm about it all.

“Enjoy it, don’t enjoy it too much. This league is difficult, we’ll keep pushing,” he said.