How Liverpool's weakness has become their strength in Premier League title race
FROM GTECH COMMUNITY STADIUM — Liverpool's trip to Brentford on Saturday had real potential to go awry.
Jurgen Klopp is, famously, not a fan of his side so often playing in Saturday's early kick-off. The Reds had picked up only one point from their previous two Premier League visits to the Bees. The night before their latest encounter, Alisson had to withdraw with a hamstring injury, adding to their already lengthy list of absentees.
In the first 30 minutes of the game, Brentford were able to impose themselves from open play as much as their usual set-piece bombardment, while Curtis Jones's bright start was curtailed by an ankle injury.
The deck seemed stacked against Liverpool already, but they managed to play and beat Brentford at their own game. Virgil van Dijk's long clearance from a free-kick was won by Diogo Jota, who beat last-man Sergio Reguilon to the loose ball to send Darwin Nunez clear. In typical Nunez fashion, he endeavoured to beat goalkeeper Mark Flekken in the hardest way possible, dinking the Dutchman from the edge of the box and opening the scoring.
Before the break, Liverpool then lost Jota to injury, while Nunez was hauled off at the interval. This allowed for the return of Mohamed Salah after overcoming a hamstring problem sustained while away with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations last month.
Having a player like Salah to come on and change a game is not the norm for any side, and Liverpool will hope this is the last time he's used in such a capacity. But here, this wrinkle helped them to a vital victory.
Salah missed two glorious chances before teeing up Alexis Mac Allister for Liverpool's second goal and then adding the third himself. After Ivan Toney had pulled one back, Cody Gakpo — on in place of
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