Mohamed Salah struck twice as Liverpool cruised to a 3-0 win at home to a toothless Brentford side.
From the very start, the Reds were the better of the two sides at Anfield and had the ball in the net twice before eventually opening the scoring.
Darwin Núñez ‘scored’ both of Liverpool’s disallowed goals with the offside flagging preventing the Uruguayan from making the scoresheet on both occasions. The second of the two would have been a memorable goal had it counted with the striker finishing with an improvised overhead kick after Mark Flekken had already produced a fine save from the corner.
There was little threat from the Bees although Bryan Mbeumo did have a golden chance with just over half an hour gone in the game when he was through on goal. However, the Brentford man’s effort was stopped by the outstretched arm of Allison.
The home side’s superiority continued in the second period although there was a brief moment of concern when VAR checked Wataru Endo’s lunging tackle on Christian Norgaard. Thomas Frank wasn’t a happy man when he saw that Japanese midfielder wasn’t punished for his lunge.
Salah pretty much confirmed the three points for Liverpool with just over an hour gone. Kostas Tsimikas did well to keep the ball in play and cross the ball over for the Egyptian to head the ball into the net.
Diogo Jota eventually rounded out the scoring in the 74th minute. The Portuguese forward received the ball from Tsimikas, found space for himself and fired a fierce effort that Flekken had no chance to stop.
Overall, it was a routine win for Jürgen Klopp’s side who will now eagerly watch Manchester City’s game against Chelsea this afternoon before facing off against the current champions after the international break.
xG: Liverpool (1.57) 3-0 (1.66) Brentford
3-0 | ||
Mohamed Salah 39' 62' Diogo Jota 74' |