Liverpool welcomed Brentford to Anfield on Sunday afternoon in what was the twenty first match of the Premier League marketing campaign for each groups. The house aspect expectedly emerged triumphant, with Fabinho heading in on the far submit from a nook within the forty fourth minute, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain doubling the benefit with a header of his personal within the 69th, and Takumi Minamino benefiting from some glorious work from Roberto Firmino to set the ultimate rating within the 77th.
Higher from Liverpool
Liverpool are at the moment coping with out their two greatest attackers, with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah each away on the African Cup of Nations representing Senegal and Egypt, respectively.
Final Thursday, they hosted Arsenal within the first leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal conflict, and other than one obvious alternative wasted by Minamino on the very finish, they fully did not make their benefit in numbers rely after Granit Xhaka picked up a straight pink card within the twenty fourth minute. It was fairly completely different this time round.
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Liverpool not solely scored 3 times, however in addition they compelled various tough saves from Bees’ goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez. The trio of Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Diogo Jota lastly confirmed that they really can do very properly with out Mane and Salah, as did Minamino and younger Kaide Gordon after their introductions within the 74th and 82nd minute. Curtis Jones additionally appeared very vigorous in the direction of the tip, having been pushed from midfield onto the left wing after James Milner got here on to exchange Firmino within the 78th minute.
The one fear Klopp may have had from this sport is that Oxlade-Chamberlain picked up a recent damage. The supervisor spoke about it after the match and expressed perception that it wasn’t critical, however nothing might’ve been mentioned for sure at that time.
Brentford haven’t any worries but
Thomas Frank’s aspect confirmed their ordinary degree of resilience and bodily prowess, however sadly for them, Liverpool had been higher ready than they had been on the Brentford Group Stadium earlier within the season, when their contest ended 3-3.
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The Bees won’t be considering an excessive amount of about this specific conflict; let’s be sincere, not many newly promoted Premier League groups go to Anfield with a practical hope of getting away with something. Additional extra, Brentford stand in a notably higher place than fellow newcomers, Watford and Norwich Metropolis at this level. In contrast to these two, Brentford can hardly be mentioned to be within the relegation battle, and that’s at all times a great signal for a staff whose intention at first of the marketing campaign was certainly simply to remain up.
Too little, too late?
For all of Liverpool’s enchancment in comparison with the Arsenal match and the optimistic outcome achieved on this one, the season seems to be all however over when the Premier League title race is worried. Manchester Metropolis beat Chelsea by 1-0 on the Etihad on Saturday, thus enabling Liverpool to maneuver into second place with a sport in hand, however the hole between them and the defending champions stays at 11 factors.
The conflict between Metropolis and Chelsea was the one Liverpool most likely appeared in the direction of essentially the most by way of Pep Guardiola’s staff dropping factors, other than their very own journey to Manchester in April, however Kevin De Bruyne made certain it didn’t occur with a incredible strike. Liverpool now needn’t solely to beat Metropolis instantly, however in addition they want Metropolis to drop factors on not less than two events greater than themselves.
In all honesty, that’s extraordinarily unlikely to occur, given the degrees of consistency Metropolis are exhibiting 12 months after 12 months. As for Liverpool, they continue to be properly inside a shot in any respect three remaining trophies on provide – the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup, and the Champions League. They may certainly be going robust for the latter, although at this level, the Carabao Cup appears inside their sights. Nonetheless, they must beat Arsenal on the Emirates first, after which show that they certainly should be ranked greater than Chelsea within the closing.
