Andrews surprised by Bees star Thiago’s goal tally

Brentford boss Keith Andrews admits he has been taken aback by the goalscoring exploits of striker Igor Thiago.

A brace in a 3-1 win against Burnley means that Thaigo now has 11 goals for the season – only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland has found the net more times than him in the Premier League this term.

The feat is all the more impressive given the Brazilian spent the majority of last season sidelined with various injury problems.

Andrews said: “It’s not normal for players to come from Bulgarian and Belgian football, have a year out injured more or less, and then impact the Premier League in the way that he has.

“I’d probably be telling porkie pies if I said I would have anticipated this.

“I knew he would have a serious impact on the league because of the attributes he has physically and the player he is.

“The goal return and the overall performance levels have obviously been really, really impressive.”

Having missed a penalty in last weekend’s defeat by Brighton, Thiago made amends by giving Brentford the lead against Burnley from the spot.

And he restored their lead with a powerful finish from inside the box after a Zian Flemming spot-kick had drawn Scott Parker’s side level.

Dango Ouattara made sure of the victory with a stoppage-time goal but it was Thiago who once again made the difference.

“We could have involved him in the game a little bit more in the first half,” said Andrews.

“It’s fair to say in the second half he showed what he’s about. The character to take the penalty after last weekend is not surprising, and the way he gets the second goal was very him.”