Liverpool huffed and puffed away at Brentford, needing super-sub Darwin Nunez to win it for them at the death.
Manchester United and Nottingham Forest both drew with Arne Slot’s leaders in the past few weeks. The Reds were at least able to create chances for a win in West London, with Dominik Szoboszlai finding the woodwork, but ultimately it was Nunez’s double at the end that proved to be costly – turning home a pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold before blasting home a second.
It had looked as though Slot’s side might have left the door ajar for the chasing pack. Instead, the pressure is now on Arsenal, who take on Aston Villa in Saturday’s late gameThe intervention was a welcome boost for under-fire Nunez. The Uruguayan had been linked with a January exit, but showed his value to the Reds with fellow forward Diogo Jota missing through injury. Brentford were inches from opening the scoring inside five minutes, with Mikkel Damsgaard not quite sharp enough to turn home a low Mads Roerslev ball flashed across the Liverpool box. In the end, while Liverpool would have wanted a win, they’ll also be aware their opponenst had chances to make it even worse. As far as Slot’s side were concerned, most of the early opportunities were half-chances rather than anything more clear-cut. That didn’t stop Szoboszlai trying to make things happen, though, and the Hungarian came close to breaking the deadlock when his long-range effort clipped the top of the crossbar. Brentford continued to push for a goal before the break, but were almost caught out on the break when Cody Gakpo met a Mohamed Salah pass with just Mark Flekken to beat but failed to find the target. Both Diaz and Nunez missed chances in the second half as it seemed to be heading to 0-0.
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