Brentford's 2026 fixtures calendar

There's a peculiar energy around the Gtech Community Stadium these days. Walk past the pubs along Kew Bridge on a matchday morning and you'll catch snatches of conversations that would have sounded absurd six months ago. Europe. Champions League spots. We might actually do this.

Brentford, the club that barely existed in the national consciousness a decade ago, enter 2026 sitting seventh in the Premier League table. Thirty points from twenty games. Four points off fourth-placed Liverpool with a game in hand. The mathematics are seductive, even if the pragmatists—and there are many in west London—urge caution.

The Andrews revolution

When Thomas Frank departed for Tottenham last June after seven transformative years, the reaction among Brentford supporters ranged from understanding to mild panic. Promoting set-piece coach Keith Andrews to the top job felt, to outsiders at least, like a gamble. The 44-year-old Irishman had never managed a professional club. His primary credential was making Brentford's dead-ball routines the most feared in English football.

Yet here we are. Andrews has fashioned something distinct from Frank's Brentford—perhaps less aesthetically pleasing but arguably more ruthless. The statistics tell one story: eight counter-attacking goals this season, more than any team across Europe's top five leagues. The eye test tells another: this Brentford side knows exactly what it is.

"I want a team that the fans feel represents them," Andrews said upon his appointment. "We want to play winning football. We want to have an edge, we want to play dynamic, relentless football." Those weren't empty words.

The January gauntlet

Tonight's visit of Sunderland opens a sequence of fixtures that could define Brentford's season. The Black Cats, themselves improbably eighth and riding one of the great promotion-year surges, present a mirror image: newly promoted, defensively organised, dangerous on the transition.

"They've done it their way," Andrews acknowledged in his pre-match press conference. "We respect what Régis Le Bris has built. But we're at home, and this crowd knows what to do."

Here's what lies ahead:

January fixtures

1. 7 January: Brentford vs Sunderland (H) – 7:30pm, Sky Sports
2. 10 January: Sheffield Wednesday vs Brentford (A) – FA Cup Third Round, 3pm
3. 11 January: Chelsea vs Brentford (A) – 3pm
4. 18 January: Brentford vs Nottingham Forest (H) – 2pm, Sky Sports

February fixtures

1. 1 February: Aston Villa vs Brentford (A) – 2pm, Sky Sports
2. 7 February: Newcastle vs Brentford (A) – 5:30pm, Sky Sports
3. 12 February: Brentford vs Arsenal (H) – 8pm, TNT Sports
4. 21 February: Brentford vs Brighton (H) – 3pm
5. 28 February: Burnley vs Brentford (A) – 3pm

March fixtures

1. 4 March: Bournemouth vs Brentford (A) – 7:30pm
2. 14 March: Brentford vs Wolves (H) – 3pm

The Thiago phenomenon

Any discussion of Brentford's 2026 begins and ends with Igor Thiago. The Brazilian striker's hat-trick against Everton last Sunday—his first since joining the club—announced his arrival as one of Europe's most devastating centre-forwards.

Fourteen Premier League goals in twenty appearances. Only Erling Haaland (19) has more. The shot conversion rate of 16.16% leads the division. These numbers gain context when you remember that Thiago spent almost his entire debut season on the treatment table, a meniscal injury robbing him of 2024-25.

"He's one of the hardest-working men I've ever seen," captain Nathan Collins told Sky Sports after the Everton victory. Coming from Collins—a defender who himself plays every match like it's his last—the praise carries weight.

Thiago's journey to this point contains the kind of narrative football rarely produces. Growing up in Brasília, he worked carrying fruit and laying bricks as a teenager before Ludogorets plucked him from Brazilian football's lower tiers. A prolific spell at Club Brugge (29 goals in 55 games) convinced Brentford to make him their record signing in 2024. Then came the injury, the infection after surgery, the months of rehabilitation.

"I always dream," Thiago said in his first Brentford interview, "because the most important thing in an athlete's life is to always dream."

The emotional return that wasn't

Thomas Frank's return to the Gtech on New Year's Day should have been the storyline of the week. Instead, it produced a goalless stalemate memorable only for Spurs supporters chanting "boring, boring Tottenham" at their own team.

Andrews was characteristically diplomatic afterwards. "Lovely to see Thomas, as always. He's somebody I respect hugely. I enjoyed working with him last season." Then came the knife: "I thought we edged it. Their goalkeeper got booked for time-wasting, which pretty much says it all."

The subtext was clear. This is not Frank's Brentford anymore. For better or worse, it belongs to Andrews now.

The summer exodus

To appreciate what Andrews has achieved requires acknowledging what he lost. Bryan Mbeumo—20 Premier League goals last season, the club's creative heartbeat—departed for Manchester United in a record £71m deal. Christian Nørgaard, the captain, joined Arsenal. Frank took several key coaching staff to Spurs.

The response was quintessentially Brentford. Caoimhin Kelleher arrived from Liverpool for £18m, desperate to prove he's more than Alisson's understudy. Michael Kayode joined on loan from Fiorentina. Jordan Henderson, still class at 35, came from an underwhelming Saudi Arabian adventure to add experience.

Henderson's presence has been particularly instructive. The former Liverpool captain started against Sunderland tonight, and there's something fitting about two Champions League winners—Henderson and Kelleher—anchoring Brentford's bid for European football.

The road ahead

February's fixture list reads like a stress test. Arsenal at home on the 12th represents the marquee occasion—under lights, nationally televised, everything on the line. Before that comes Villa Park, St James' Park, and whatever Sheffield Wednesday throw at them in the FA Cup.

Andrews hasn't hidden his ambitions. "There's something building here," he said recently. "The players feel it. The fans feel it. We want to have huge moments, huge games."

Whether Brentford can sustain their form through the fixture congestion remains the central question. They've already lost eight league games—more than any team above them. The squad depth, despite summer investment, pales compared to the established elite.

But there's a reason neutrals have adopted the Bees as football's most watchable underdog story. Counter-attacking goals from kick-offs. A Brazilian striker who couldn't play last year now chasing the Golden Boot. A rookie manager making experienced coaches look foolish.

Can they finish in the top six? Perhaps. Can they qualify for the Champions League? Almost certainly not. Will they make the next three months entertaining? Absolutely.

The pubs around Kew Bridge will be busy tonight.