Darwin Nunez's late heroics mask Liverpool's increasing issue under Arne Slot
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For 90 minutes Liverpool huffed and puffed. And just as it looked like the leaders would draw a third straight game, Darwin Nunez popped up to blow Brentford’s house down. The maligned striker, mocked by home fans when sprung from the bench with 25 minutes to play, side-footed home Trent Alexander-Arnold ’s low cross in the first minute of added time to grab a win that they came desperately close to frittering away.
It was Liverpool ’s 36th shot of an afternoon where they dominated without ever looking totally convincing. That Nunez found the net again a minute later, having been played through by Harvey Elliott, was both cruel on Thomas Frank’s hosts and another sign of the mental fortitude that sees Liverpool maintain a comfortable gap at the summit.
Against a Brentford team that have one of the country’s best home records but had not kept a clean sheet on their own patch since last season, Arne Slot ’s men were really wasteful. And it almost looked to have cost them victory at the end of a week where those desperate for a close title race were pointing to cracks in their foundations.
Indeed the most nervy moment for Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken in the opening half hour was when Nathan Collins sent a loose return pass back that had the goalkeeper hurrying to control. Not that Alisson Becker was up the walls either. He twice smothered attempts from Bryan Mbeumo, whom Brentford sought to isolate up against Kostas Tsimikas at every opportunity.
