Brentford boss Keith Andrews waxed lyrical about Igor Thiago after his sensational brace helped the Bees to a 3-0 victory over Sunderland at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Thiago struck either side of the break, notching his 15th and 16th Premier League goals of the season in the process, while Yehor Yarmoliuk netted his first goal for the club to round out a comprehensive win.

Sunderland were handed a golden chance to draw level after the break as Brian Brobbey was felled by Kristoffer Ajer on the hour, but Caoimhin Kelleher was on hand to easily save Enzo Le Fee's attempted Panenka.

In the end, the night belonged to Thiago, who set a new record for the best goalscoring tally by a Brazilian in a single Premier League season (16).

“The recruitment team deserve a lot of praise for the type of players they bring in and personalities. It is really impressive,” Andrews told BBC Sport when asked about Thiago.

“He is a really special person who has fitted into life very nicely. He has had to earn this path. He has earned his journey and grafted.

“He has got serious grit about his personality. He is developing his skill set constantly, and we are learning more and more about him. He is a pretty complete centre-forward.

“We played Bournemouth a couple of weeks ago and he didn’t score but he was sensational.

"Goals are always something you are judged on as a striker, and it is fair to say on that front, he is having a special season as well.”

The Bees have now accumulated 33 points from their opening 21 matches in the Premier League this season, marking their joint-best ever return at this stage of a campaign in the competition (also 33 in 2022-23).

They are unbeaten across their last six matches in the league, only ever enjoying a longer run without defeat in the same campaign once previously (a run of 12 between October 2022 and March 2023).

“I was just thinking about playing at the start of the season and then having a good moment. I wasn’t expecting to score this much but I am just keeping going," Thiago said.

“We are having a good season. We are doing well. We just need to keep going like this, and if we do, we can achieve a good result in the end.”

Sunderland, meanwhile, are winless in their last six away Premier League games (D3 L3).

It is their longest run without a win on the road across the same season in the top flight since failing to win their first six away matches of the 2015-16 campaign, under Dick Advocaat and Sam Allardyce.

Regis Le Bris’ side also suffered their joint-heaviest defeat of the Premier League season (also losing 3-0 at Manchester City in December).

The Black Cats last suffered a heavier away defeat across the top four tiers back in January 2022, a 6-0 loss at Bolton Wanderers in League One.

“It is a tough place. Well done to Brentford because they were good. We didn't start well. We had the opportunity to be back in the game but we missed it,” Le Bris said.

“It was like going 2-0 down because the energy of the stadium went high, and it was the beginning of the end for us.

“It was the main switch of the game and after that they were better than us. We have to lose as a team. We were not at the level.

“We won't search for excuses. We have to manage the conditions we have.”