Liverpool’s Alisson can’t fend off Brentford in costly 3-1 loss

Sports Desk, Jan 2 (EFE).- Overwhelmed by pressure from Brentford and with a shipwrecked defense, Liverpool fell 3-1 on the road on Monday, ending its four-game winning streak to find itself on the edge of European berths and 15 points behind Premier League leader Arsenal.

Thomas Frank’s Brentford men this season have specialized in being a thorn in the side of the big teams, downing Manchester United 4-0, knocking off Manchester City 2-1 on the road and with only Arsenal being able to win at Brentford Community Stadium so far this season.

Those results should have warned Liverpool, which was on the verge of grabbing a European berth, and things started off all right with the Reds endangering their hosts and with Thiago Alcantara in charge of play the team created several chances, although Brentford netminder David Raya was able to field them.

However, after that – and an own goal by Ibrahim Konate getting the Bees on the board after he was unable to keep the ball from ricocheting off his thigh on a corner kick by Bryan Mbeumo – Liverpool seemed to have run out of creativity and they were not able to get much else going for the remainder of the first half.

Brentford, meanwhile, played intensely along the lines and exerted a suffocating pressure, and finally it was Yoane Wissa, also on a corner kick, who hit the twine, although that tally was ruled out after VAR. Yet, Wissa, shortly thereafter in minute 40, was able to turn things around and – once again on a corner kick – easily fielded the ball inside the area and headed it home with a right-footer for Brentford’s second goal.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp pulled key defender Virgil van Dijk at the break, replacing him with Joel Matip, along with two other substitutions.

At the start of the second half, Darwin Nuñez had a Liverpool tally ruled out for offside, and Wissa also had another sinker ruled out after VAR.

Five minutes after play resumed, it looked like things might be looking up for Liverpool – despite their lackluster performance so far – when Alexander Oxlade-Chamberlain was able to find the twine on a pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Reds tried to go for the even-up score but had no luck and Brentford once again showed significant grit in preventing things from getting out of control.

Ultimately, it was Mbeumo who notched the third goal for the home team in the 84th minute.

Lineups:

Brentford: Raya; Roerslev, Zanka, Pinnock, Mee, Henry (Bech Sorensen, m. 96); Jensen (Dasilva, m. 73), Norgaard, Janelt (Ghoddos, min. 87); Mbeumo (Canos, m. 88) and Wissa (Lewis-Potter, m. 74).

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk (Matip, m. 45), Tsimikas (Robertson, m. 46); Elliot (Keita, m. 46) Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Darwin Núñez and Oxlade-Chamberlain (Jones, m. 83).

EFE –/bp