Liverpool v Brentford: Premier League – live

FULL TIME: Liverpool 1-0 Brentford

It’s six Premier League wins in a row for Liverpool … but how Brentford made them work for it. The two German managers embrace warmly. They both know that was a closely fought match.

90 min +2:Corner for Brentford out on the right. Raya comes up for it! Alisson punches clear, but Brentford win another corner, this time on the left.

90 min +1:Brentford have scored five goals during injury time this season. Nobody in the Premier League has managed more.
90 min:Toney leans into Tsimikas. Foul, and the pressure on Liverpool is released. There will be four added minutes.

87 min:Alisson gathers a ball on the edge of his box and fires a low, flat kick upfield in the hope of releasing Diaz down the middle. Hickey reads the danger well and intercepts.

83 min:Fabinho launches long down the right to release Salah into space. Salah enters the box but dillies and dallies, and Pinnock’s not of a mind to let him pass. Eventually Salah is forced to turn tail and the danger is gone. That’s wonderful one-on-one defence by Pinnock.

62 min: Onyeka barges into the back of Fabinho, just to the right of the Liverpool box, but the hosts don’t get the free kick. They’re doubly annoyed seconds later when Robertson clips Toney and that one is awarded. A free kick in a very dangerous position here.

54 min: Konate is booked for kicking the ball away after a Gakpo foul on Mbeumo. The referee points all around the pitch, suggesting it’s a totting-up thing. Meanwhile here’s Peter Oh: “Nine Anfield appearance goals on the trot? It’s good to be the king! The Egyptian King.”

Liverpool get the second half started. No changes.

HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-0 Brentford

Liverpool just about deserve their lead … but Brentford responded excellently to falling behind, launching several dangerous attacks, and will fancy their chances of an equaliser and even more. It’s poised delicately, deliciously, for an entertaining second half.

42 min: But it’s the correct decision, and the goal’s chalked off. Brentford come again, though, and Fabinho high-kicks Toney as the pair contest a loose ball just to the left of the Liverpool D. This’ll be another free kick in a dangerous position, and a yellow card for Fabinho too.

41 min: VAR takes a while to double check, though. The tension around Anfield is palpable.

40 min: … and it so nearly pays dividend as Toney plays a cute first-time ball around the corner down the right, sending Mbeumo clear. Mbeumo romps infield, holds off Van Dijk, reaches the edge of the D, and whips gloriously into the top left! But the flag immediately goes up for offside.

33 min: Alexander-Arnold is swarmed by Toney and Mbeumo, facing his own goal 30 yards out, and inevitably ships possession. Van Dijk comes across to blooter clear just before the Brentford pair can latch onto a loose ball on the edge of the area.

32 min: Say what you will about Nunez, though; he keeps on keepin’ on. He powers his way down the left and hooks a low cross in towards Salah. Mee hacks it out for a corner, which Robertson takes, only to send straight out for a goal kick.

30 min: Alexander-Arnold wedges a stunning pass down the inside-left channel for Nunez, the ball dropping at the much-maligned Uruguayan’s feet six yards out. Nunez must score, but wafts at the ball, barely making contact. It drifts wide left and high. A dreadful miss.

20 min: Alexander-Arnold, tight on the right touchline, half-volleys a crossfield pass towards Robertson on the left. Roberson romps into space. Jones curls a weak shot straight at Raya. Brentford counter, Mbeumo speculating from a position out left. Alisson gathers. Liverpool keep up the basketball rhythm by chasing up the other end, Nunez winning a corner down the right.

GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Brentford (Salah 13)

The corner’s worked back to Jones, who pearls a shot goalwards. Hickey blocks. Brentford clear, but Liverpool come again. Fabinho, on the edge of the D, wedges diagonally towards Van Dijk on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box. Van Dijk heads across the face of goal for Salah, who needs two touches to force home … but force home he does!

10 min: Robertson, Jota and Gakpo probe down the left to little effect. Brentford hold their shape. “On my way home from Perth,” writes Simon McMahon, whose Dundee United lost this afternoon to St Johnstone. “Should’ve stayed at home and watched the coronation. That’s how bad it was. Long live the MBM!”

7 min: Fabinho is clumped by Hickey out on the left. Liverpool line up on the edge of the box. The free kick’s swung in by Robertson. Konate somehow misses his header, six yards out. But Liverpool have the consolation of a corner, from which …

The teams are out! Liverpool in red, Brentford sky blue. We’ll be off soon. But first, a musical interlude. Liverpool have been passive-aggressively cajoled into playing the National Anthem in honor of the the coronation of King Charles lll despite the powers that be knowing full well that, in terms of pledging allegiance to the crown, the denizens of Anfield register a score of absolute zero on the Guardian’s patented Ibrox-o-meter™. So here it comes, drearily pouring out of the speaker, to be met with predictable results. A cacophony of booing, some loud and repeated chanting of “Liverpool, Liverpool”, then a lot more booing, after which a much more popular ditty, You’ll Never Walk Alone, gets the place back on equilibrium.