Here is our match report from Ed Aarons at Brentford Community Stadium.
Updated
Thank you very much for joining me. I am off to rest my fingers. The match report will be with you soon enough.
Full-time: Brentford 3-3 Liverpool
WHAT A GAME! It really was pulsating stuff, with Brentford coming back twice when it looked like Liverpool were taking control of proceedings.
90+3 mins: Canos plays one of those long balls, forcing Toney to battle with Van Dijk for the ball. The defender gets the better in the fight, although Toney questions if his methods were legal.
Down the other end, a cross from Mane is turned towards his own goal by a defender but Raya reacts superbly to ensure parity.
90+2 mins: Both teams look a touch tired now with long balls over the top for the strikers to chase the best idea for leggy midfielders.
90 mins: Five minutes added on.
88 mins: Janelt sends in a corner but Van Dijk is there to head away. The ball comes back into the box for Toney to take a wonderful touch before whacking it across Alisson and into the corner but sadly the striker is a good yard offside.
86 mins: Mbeumo gets in a great position to cross from on the left but his effort is blocked by Van Dijk.
84 mins: Liverpool and Klopp will be upset about their recent missed chances now Brentford are level.
Jota goes down in the box under pressure from Henry. The referee isn’t interested but VAR takes a look and rules it is insignificant.
GOAL! Brentford 3-3 Liverpool (Wissa, 82)
We are level again! A cross is swung into the box from a central position, it goes over Toney, bounces around a little, ending with a beautiful chip from substitute Wissa over Alisson from inside the six-yard box. He celebrates with some meditation.
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81 mins: Alexander-Arnold swings in a corner from the left but Baptiste clears. Liverpool soon win another corner on the other side, which Robertson sends into Raya’s hands.
79 mins: Firmino gets past Jansson with some incredible footwork but Ajer comes across and sends it behind, via the Brazilian, for a goal-kick.
77 mins: It really should be game over as Mane slips the ball through to Salah who has a lot of time and space, he gets one-on-one with Raya and tries to chip Raya but only finds the top of the net, rather than the back of it.
Wissa is on for Norgaard.
75 mins: Liverpool are trying to take the pace out of the game, with plenty of slow passing side-to-side and the backwards. Brentford look a little tired.
73 mins: Jota tries to pull the back to Mane but Jansson reads the danger and clears.
71 mins: Robertson is booked for fouling Baptiste just outside the Liverpool area. Janelt puts the free-kick into the box but Alisson positions himself to punch a long way clear.
69 mins: Raya comes 25 yards to calmly take the ball down and kick it out for a throw.
Baptiste is on for Onyeka for Brentford, while Firmino replaces goalscorer Jones.
GOAL! Brentford 2-3 Liverpool (Jones, 67)
There is no mistake this time, as Jones collects the ball on the left flank, before cutting in and letting rip from 20 yards. It is a good strike but is helped by a deflection from Ajar whose outstretched leg takes it over Raya’s arms. Klopp immediately takes Jones off.
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67 mins: Mane controls a cross and tries to play it back to Jota but he puts too much on the pass, so it deflects off the Portuguese and into the path of the onrushing Jones who whacks it well over the bar from 18 yards out.
65 mins: Needless to say, that has lifted the crowd. Liverpool will be looking to silence them again quickly.
GOAL! Brentford 2-2 Liverpool (Janelt, 63)
Incredible stuff from Brentford as a cross lifted into the box ends with Jansson almost breaking the crossbar. The chance is not gone as Janelt is waiting to head home from very close range.
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62 mins: Salah flicks a pass into the path of a marauding Alexander-Arnold but his low drive is blocked.
Down the other end Mbeumo drills a low cross along the six-yard line but Liverpool manage to clear before Toney can get a killer touch on it.
60 mins: Brentford are still looking very bright. Toney plays a one-two and gets the ball back on the edge of the area but he is leaning back as he receives the pass and sends his shot well over.
58 mins: Van Dijk heads a Brentford cross straight up in the air, allowing Brentford to challenge for the second ball but the referee blows when he thinks Toney has become too physical.
56 mins: Can Brentford come from behind? The crowd were getting slightly subdued even before Liverpool took the lead, so they might need to re-energise their team.
GOAL! Brentford 1-2 Liverpool (Salah, 54)
Liverpool silence the home fans with a goal as Fabinho lifts a ball over the top for Salah who volleys home at the first time of asking while on the move. The assistant flags for offside but it goes upstairs to VAR who rule Salah is onside thanks to a defender on the far side of the pitch. Salah now his 100 Premier League goals, too.
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51 mins: Alexander-Arnold swings in a corner from the left which is turned behind at the back post by Canos. The next set-piece is taken by Robertson on the other side but it goes straight out of play.
49 mins: Janelt takes Brentford’s first corner of the match which ends with a Liverpool break. Salah is almost played through on goal but Henry gets a nick on the ball to take it away from the striker and save Brentford in the process.
Brentford then try to set their own downfall as Janelt gives the ball away in his defensive third. Robertson gets the ball out on the left and sends in a dangerous cross which Henderson misses and then Jota jabs at goal, only to see Raya turn it behind.
47 mins: Mbeumo runs at Van Dijk in the box but the Dutchman stands his ground and turns it behind for a corner.
Second half
Here we go again!
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Stat attack.
100 - Ethan Pinnock is the 100th different player to net his first ever Premier League goal against Liverpool; only Everton (142), Tottenham (124) and Aston Villa (102) have seen more players score their first goal in the competition against them. Moment.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 25, 2021
Half-time: Brentford 1-1 Liverpool
It has been a very entertaining opening 45 minutes in west London. Brentford have equalled Liverpool across the pitch and deserve to be going in level at half-time.
45 mins: Robertson dribbles about 60 yards with the ball at his feet, going from deep inside his own half to the edge of the Brentford area, winning a free-kick after Onyeka pushes him over. Alexander-Arnold sends the free-kick over.
Three minutes added on.
43 mins: Never watched it, so ... maybe?
@Will_Unwin Have Brentford been studying Ted Lasso?
— Ian Stewart - Citizen of Nowhere (@il_cagnaccio) September 25, 2021
41 mins: Pinnock is on the floor again. Not a clue why he has tried to carry on. Zanka is now definitely coming on.
39 mins: Henry whips in a cross with his right, which Toney tries to take on his chest but it bounces away from him. Pinnock comes to the right to take a long throw, despite his injury, which comes to nothing.
Down the other end ... what a save! Jones sends a low drive against the base of the post but Jota reacts first, hitting the rebound from just a few yards out, only to see Raya get up and get his body in the way.
37 mins: Oh ... Pinnock is up and Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen is back in a bib running up and down the sidelines. Brentford call him Zanka on their squadsheet, so I will join them in that.
35 mins: Liverpool win a corner after Canos blocks Robertson’s cross from the left. The resulting corner is cleared to the edge of the box and Fabinho can only send his cross out of play.
Pinnock is on the floor and is coming off. Zanka is primed to replace him.
33 mins: Neat play from Brentford ends with Mbeumo lifting a first-time pass over the top for Toney but it’s a touch heavy, allowing Alisson to come and punch clear.
Peter Oh emails: “Looking at the team sheet I can’t help but be wowed by the quality that is seated on the Liverpool bench today. I doubt that any other collection of Premier League bib-wearers could beat these guys in a 9-a-side.”
GOAL! Brentford 1-1 Liverpool (Jota, 31)
The hosts get caught out of shape, allowing Henderson plenty of room on the right to pick out Jota from his cross, which the Portuguese perfectly heads into the corner from 10 yards out.
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29 mins: That is a fine routine from Brentford, which Liverpool did not see coming. They completely bamboozled the defence there.
Pinnock seems to have a sore thigh/hip since scoring, possibly caused by his stretch for the finish. Hopefully it was not caused by the celebration.
GOAL! Brentford 1-0 Liverpool (Pinnock, 27)
It looks like Brentford are going to whip a free-kick into the box from the right but instead they play a cute one, with Norgaard flicking it over the defence for Canos to run onto and send across the box, Toney flicks it and Pinnock slides in at the back post to open the scoring.
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26 mins: Robertson pings a pass into Jones feet but he takes a poor touch as the ball ricochets off his ankles for a throw. He takes a rueful look back at his teammate.
24 mins: Fabinho looks for a long diagonal over the top for Salah but Pinnock reads it and flicks it away for a corner. Nothing comes of it for Liverpool.
22 mins: Ajer reads a pass from Mane, allowing him to intercept and take the ball out of defence but he is crudely fouled by Jones.
20 mins: Janelt takes down Jota, who lies on the ground clutching his legs to indicate he is in pain. The medics come on and get it him and running once more.
18 mins: Henderson wins a header but knees Janelt in the back but the big German brushes himself down and gets on with it.
Down the other end Mbeumo looks like he is caught once by Alexander-Arnold but he stays on his feet and tries to get a cross in but then takes a tumble at the second time of asking, although nothing is given.
16 mins: After that frenetic spell, Liverpool are trying to assert control with short passes as they go from side to side in search of some space for a killer ball. They cannot find any, so their patient attack ends with Raya claiming an aimless cross into the box.
14 mins: This is a pretty lively affair. It has been helped by both midfields being completely absence in the opening stages. They might want to reconsider that.
12 mins: OFF THE LINE! Raya runs 25 yards from goal to whack the ball clear downfield, where Toney greets it with a flicked header which sends Mbeumo through one-on-one with Alisson but his dink over the top of the goalkeeper is desperately cleared by Matip running back towards his own goal.
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10 mins: Henry swings in a cross from the left for Toney to attack. He gets away from his marker but makes poor contact as his header flashes across goal.
Brentford get another chance moments later as Mbeumo flicks the ball to Onyeka just inside the area but he snatches at his shot and sends it over. The stadium has come alive.
8 mins: OFF THE LINE! Ajer is back on the pitch to make an incredible clearance. Jones nicks the ball from Norgaard on the halfway, allowing Jota to slip a pass through for Salah, who goes one-on-one with Raya, sends it past the goalkeeper, only to see the big centre-back slide to scoop the ball way at the last second when the goal looked certain.
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6 mins: Ajer is left on the floor after challenging Jones for a header. I think the defender was caught in the head by the Liverpool man’s shoulder. After a bit of treatment he gets up and shouts at the referee a bit about the incident.
4 mins: It is all Liverpool but Brentford are keeping them at bay, holding their line well around the edge of the penalty area. The highlight thus far has been a nice flick from Henderson, which is a sign there is not much to report.
2 mins: Liverpool have most of the early possession as they look to control the game.
Kick-off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
The players come out to the fans singing Hey Jude!/Brent-ford.
It is a lovely evening in west London and the crowd is getting a bit raucous, which should make a for a cracking game.
Klopp says Liverpool “need to be ready for a proper fight” against Brentford.
Selfie time.
Thomas Frank reckons Christian Norgaard would be a decent fit in the Liverpool midfield. He has a good chance to prove himself today.
“I think Christian is a late bloomer,” said Frank. “And I’m very, very pleased that he’s playing for Brentford.
“Because I think if you took him out and put him into Liverpool, and changed the two players, Fabinho and him, I don’t think you’d see much difference.”
Kristoffer Ajer has a few family members over from Norway for this game, not because they want him to win but to support their beloved Liverpool. He is expecting a tough evening.
“For me Virgil Van Dijk is one of the best defenders in the world so for me it is exciting and it is going to be a great, great challenge for us,” he said.
“We know how strong they are at the back as well as the quality they have up front. It is a team full of talent and the way they press and the way they attack, it’s amazing.
“So, it is going to be a tough game but we know if we defend strongly and defend as well as we did against Wolves we have players offensively who can create opportunities and score so it is going to be a very tough one.
“Liverpool are big, big favourites but maybe that suits us well.”
Salah is good, it would seem.
Curtis Jones is given the nod in midfield by Klopp, with Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain waiting on the bench.
Starting lineups
Brentford: Raya, Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock, Canos, Onyeka, Norgaard, Janelt, Henry, Mbeumo, Toney
Subs: Fernandez, Jensen, Forss, Wissa, Ghoddos, Zanka, Baptiste, Bidsrtup, Roerslev
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Jones, Mane, Salah, Jota
Subs: Kelleher, Konate, Milner, Firmino, Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Tsimikas, Origi
Good afternoon
It is a long time since Liverpool played away at Brentford in the league - 74 years to be exact. Jurgen Klopp’s side come into the fixture unbeaten in the league and looking like title challengers once more.
Liverpool have got a few issues in midfield with Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita both ruled out of action since their last Premier League outing but they have a few players desperate to fill the void.
Brentford just a lot of players keen to show they can mix it with the best in Europe. They have already shown they can be ruthless with Ivan Toney proving himself as capable in the top-flight as he was in the Championship. Arsenal have already suffered at the hands of the Bees’ forward line and if Liverpool are not at 100% in defence, then they could be another victim in front of a raucous crowd.
Let’s hope for a cracker.
Kick-off: 5.30pm BST
