Brentford handed Liverpool another setback in the title race.
Brentford handed Premier League champions Liverpool a fourth consecutive defeat as they prevailed 3-2 in a thrilling game in West London.
Liverpool appeared to have arrested their recent slump in midweek when they thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 in the Champions League.
However, Arne Slot’s men were once again well below their best at the Gtech Community Stadium, and goals from Dango Ouattara and Kevin Schade gave Brentford a richly deserved 2-0 lead.
Milos Kerkez controversially pulled one back for the visitors in first-half stoppage time, but a contentious penalty from Igor Thiago gave Brentford control again on the hour mark.
A stunning Mohamed Salah strike setting up a thrilling finish, but Brentford hung on to move into the top half, with Liverpool’s latest loss dropping them to sixth. A win for Arsenal against Crystal Palace on Sunday would see the Reds fall seven points off the pace in the title race.
Route one undoes Liverpool again
Much has been made of Liverpool’s struggles dealing with direct football from their opponents, and those problems reared their head in the fifth minute.
Kayode’s throw came in with pace and radar-like precision, and Kristoffer Ajer flicked into the path of Ouattara to acrobatically turn home.
Liverpool had a gilt-edged chance to level in the 20th minute but Florian Wirtz, yet to register a goal involvement in the Premier League, lashed narrowly wide of the left-hand post.
Cody Gakpo then curled wide with an ambitious effort from the edge of the area, yet it was the hosts who continued to pose the greater threat, Jordan Henderson not far away from a long-range goal against the club for whom he lifted the Champions League before Damsgaard went closer, drawing an excellent save from Giorgi Mamardashvili.
Yet shortly after Liverpool saw penalty appeals waved away when Gakpo went down theatrically in the area, Damsgaard teed up Brentford’s second, his outstanding angled throughball playing in Schade, who crept his effort under Mamardashvili.
Both sides ended the half irritated at referee Simon Hooper, who drew the ire of Brentford and manager Keith Andrews, who was cautioned for his protestations after Hooper allowed the first half to carry on beyond the allotted additional three minutes. The clock had ticked beyond 49 minutes when Kerkez stole in to halve the deficit.
Brentford cling on
Hooper had to withdraw from proceedings ahead of the second half due to injury, with Tim Robinson taking his place for the restart, which was quickly followed by more Brentford dominance as the busy Mamardashvili twice denied Thiago and then kept out a deflected Damsgaard effort.
The Georgia international was beaten for a third time, though, with Robinson playing a central role in Brentford restoring their two-goal cushion as he announced to the crowd that a Virgil van Dijk foul on Ouattara had taken place inside the box, the VAR deeming it a factual overturn, leaving no need for the referee to consult the pitchside monitor.
Thiago confidently tucked home the penalty, and Ouattara twice spurned opportunities to put the game to bed, heading wide from superb crosses from Kayode and Keane Lewis-Potter.
And his profligacy allowed Salah, without a goal in six games, to give Liverpool hope by brilliantly controlling Dominik Szoboszlai’s ball in and crashing home on the half-volley after Brentford gave the ball away deep in their own half.
Ouattara headed over from another brilliant Lewis-Potter delivery, and it appeared as if it that could prove costly when seven minutes were added on and an injury to Thiago swelled that number.
The clocked ticked beyond 100 minutes, and Liverpool went agonisingly close to drawing level at the death when Salah failed to make proper contact with a far-post cross in a miss that summed up his lack of form, with former Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher’s subsequent save from Szoboszlai securing a famous win for Brentford.
