Liverpool met London outfit Brentford in Premier League at Anfield, reviving their title charge with an easy win over the Bees.
The Reds started their second consecutive game (all competitions) without Salah and Sadio. The game saw an Unusual trio of Jones, Jota, and Firmino leading the attack.
Klopp’s men started the game brightly asking lots of questions to the visitors in their penalty box. Liverpool dominated the midfield and with lots of crosses into Brentford’s box as corners kept on coming.
The home side were doing all the right things but it was a matter of finding the final pass. Just the final flourish was not there for the Reds.
But in the 44th minute, Liverpool broke the deadlock as Fabinho powers a header into the bottom right corner of the net. Liverpool leads 1-0 at the break.
In the second half, Liverpool looked to capitalize on the lead and in fact, looked more threatening. The home side were rewarded for their efforts as in the 69th minute Robertson feeds Oxlade Chamberlain a perfect cross and the Englishman makes no mistake with the header making Brentford’s comeback harder.
Moreover, eight minutes later, birthday boy Takumi Minamino made it 3-0 after Brentford’s playing from the back got horribly wrong.
Liverpool could have scored a few more, but Bees goalie Fernandez made some excellent saves.
At the full-time, it ended Liverpool 3-0 Brentford.
It was a much-needed win for Klopp’s side to end their winless run. Klopp’s task is now to get away with these kinds of games and find ways to win until the African trio comes back to Anfield.
Key Numbers
Liverpool have now recorded an aggregate score of 15-1 after winning each of their last five home Premier League games.
The Reds’ tally of 55 goals so far in this season’s Premier League is their most scored in their first 21 league games from the start of a top-flight campaign.
Brentford are currently on winless strike in seven away league fixtures, losing their last three games in a row. This winless streak is the Bees’ longest winless league run since their run of 15 without an away win from April to December 2018 in the Championship.
Liverpool vs Brentford: Post match reactions
Klopp speaks on Minamino’s performance on his 27th birthday.
Today pretty much started with birthday songs in all available languages and it was really nice
And then, meanwhile, coming on and being that much in the game and scoring this really nice goal was absolutely helpful for him and for us.
Klopp also speaks about Minamino returning from injury.
That’s now a little bit ago. Of course, injury interrupts then rhythm and all these kinds of things. He played now the last game, 90 minutes, and now today coming on, that was the rhythm, it was right for him. It was Thursday-Sunday – it’s not easy after coming back from injury, so that’s why he didn’t start today.
When asked about whether his strong celebrations at the end of the game were due to relief or because he thinks it’s an important result ahead of Thursday’s Carabao Cup tie with Arsenal.
Both. Do I have to make a difference there? The way Brentford plays against us is really uncomfortable.
The game against Brentford – I knew before that it will be a really tough one – it was a tough one and that’s why I’m so happy that we did so well in other moments.
Klopp’s reaction to the win improved confidence and showed there’s ‘goals in the team’ ahead of Thursday.
I’m not surprised about that but winning is good for confidence, definitely.
Klopp speaks on whether he needs to turn ‘doubters into believers’ in the title race.
Yes, but if you would do something like this, we wouldn’t do it in public. So, we don’t have to convince anybody outside to believe. If they want to believe, they can believe. I think people are with us, they want to enjoy the ride, they are ready to go for as much as we can.
What’s next for Liverpool?
Liverpool are in the EFL Cup action next. Klopp’s men will travel to Emirates to face Arsenal for the 2nd leg of the Semi-finals in the competition midweek.
The tie is evenly poised after Arsenal hung on to draw at Anfield on the first-leg.
