October 26, (THEWILL) — Liverpool suffered their fourth consecutive English Premier League loss after falling 3-2 to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday. Keith Andrews’ side employed a strategy of long throws that troubled the visitors throughout, with the opening goal coming directly from Michael Kayode’s delivery that Kristoffer Ajer flicked on for Dango Ouattara to finish acrobatically.
Brentford doubled their advantage in the 45th minute when Mikkel Damsgaard played Kevin Schade through for a clinical one-on-one finish. Liverpool responded immediately before the break through Milos Kerkez’s goal from Conor Bradley’s cross, though the hosts protested the half had already ended. Florian Wirtz had earlier spurned a clear opportunity to bring the defending champions level.
The second half brought further controversy when referee Tim Robinson, who replaced the injured Simon Hooper at the interval, initially awarded Brentford a free-kick for Virgil van Dijk’s challenge on Ouattara. VAR determined the foul occurred on the penalty area line, and Igor Thiago converted the resulting spot-kick to restore Brentford’s two-goal cushion.
Mohamed Salah, restored to the starting line-up after being dropped for the midweek fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt, pulled one back in the 89th minute with an excellent touch and finish. The Egyptian forward came close to salvaging a point 11 minutes into stoppage time but could not convert at the back post.
Liverpool ended Saturday in sixth place and face the prospect of slipping further behind the league leaders depending on weekend results. The defeat continues a difficult run of form for the title holders, who have now lost four straight matches in the competition.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
