Aiming for their first Premier League win of 2025 at the third attempt, leaders Liverpool face a taxing trip to the Gtech Community Stadium to meet Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
Arne Slot's men could only manage a 1-1 draw with title rivals Nottingham Forest on Tuesday evening, but the Bees' 2-2 stalemate with Manchester City was undoubtedly one point gained rather than two dropped.
Match preview
© Iconsport
Taking the term super subs to a totally different level, Liverpool duo Kostas Tsimikas and Diogo Jota saved the Reds' bacon against Nottingham Forest with their first touches of the ball, having been sent on for a corner with their side 1-0 down in the second half.
Tsimikas's first action was to whip the ball into the mixer, and Jota's first touch saw the Portuguese flick a deft header into the far corner to cancel out Chris Wood's opening strike, but the sense of frustration was still palpable for the league leaders and their travelling fans.
Inspired goalkeeper Matz Sels and man-mountain defender Murillo both performed out of their skin to deny Liverpool a precious three points, and their lead at the Premier League summit has now been cut down by Arsenal thanks to the Gunners' North London derby success over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, the Reds still hold an insurmountable four-point advantage with a game in hand, but they have started stuttering ever so slightly in 2025, as the 4-0 FA Cup crushing of Accrington Stanley represents their only win from their four games since the turn of the year.
Failure to triumph in West London would also see Liverpool go three Premier League games without a win for the first time since May-August 2023, but Slot is yet to lose a top-flight away game in charge of the Reds, whose unbeaten run in the competition now stands at an exceptional 16 matches.
© Imago
As Liverpool prolong their undefeated sequence on the road, Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium had lost its fortress status before the visit of Man City, as Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and - astonishingly - Plymouth Argyle all left the Bees' home as the victors in successive matches.
A fourth straight home defeat appeared to be on the cards when Phil Foden bagged a second-half brace, but Yoane Wissa's quick reply set up a grandstand finish, in which Christian Norgaard came up with a true captain's contribution as he headed the Bees level in added time.
The midfielder's bedlam-inducing equaliser means that Brentford are just about clinging onto a top-half place for the time being - at least until Brighton & Hove Albion's clash with Ipswich Town on Thursday concludes - but their below-par form is befitting of a bottom-half team.
Indeed, only one of the hosts' last eight matches across all competitions has ended in victory, and while 29 goals on home turf may be a league high, only Southampton (27), West Ham United (24) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (23) have conceded more Premier League goals on their own patch than the Bees this term.
Clean sheets are also extremely hard for Brentford to come by against Liverpool, who have won each of their last four Premier League head-to-heads and have scored in all but one of their 22 meetings, only drawing a blank in a 0-0 First Division draw in 1936.
Team News
© Imago
Liverpool's offensive ranks will be strengthened by the return of Darwin Nunez from suspension on Saturday, but Jota is certainly the first in line for promotion from the bench after scoring the Reds' quickest Premier League substitute goal on record.
Assister Tsimikas has also put his name in the hat for a start over Andy Robertson, whose performance at the City Ground divided opinion amid claims that Liverpool are pressing ahead with a move for Lecce's Patrick Dorgu as his successor.
Once again, the visitors' only injury absentee should be Joe Gomez, who is still a couple of weeks away from returning from the hamstring issue he suffered in late December.
Brentford are not so fortunate on the fitness front, though, as Josh Dasilva (knee), Ethan Pinnock (thigh), Kristoffer Ajer (ankle), Aaron Hickey (thigh), Igor Thiago (knee), Gustavo Nunes (back) and Ryan Trevitt (Achilles) are all out of contention again.
However, there was an extremely welcome return for Rico Henry on Tuesday night, as the left-back made his first Premier League appearance since September 2023 in the draw with Man City, replacing Mads Roerslev for the final few moments.
Having also played just over an hour in the FA Cup loss to Plymouth, Henry should be in contention for a long-awaited top-flight start on Saturday, although Frank may feel that Keane Lewis-Potter is better equipped to deal with Mohamed Salah given the fact that he has plenty more minutes in his legs.
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Flekken; Roerslev, Van den Berg, Collins, Lewis-Potter; Norgaard, Janelt, Jensen; Mbeumo, Wissa, Damsgaard
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Jones, Gakpo; Jota
We say: Brentford 1-2 Liverpool
Goals at both ends are almost always a guarantee at the Gtech Community Stadium, where Brentford should sense an opportunity against a Liverpool side who have failed to carry their 2024 ruthlessness into 2025 so far.
However, Slot is not short of options for change whatsoever, and Brentford still have not kept a single clean sheet at home this season, so the Reds should be able to fight fire with fire and get their title pursuit back on track.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
