-Credit:Getty Images
It hasn’t been the ideal start to 2025 so far for Liverpool. The Reds are still searching for their first league win of the New Year, having seen their lead at the top of the table cut down this week.
Arne Slot will hope he can get his side back to the sort of form they were showing before the end of 2024, having seen the year out in style against Tottenham, Leicester and West Ham. They haven’t been quite as prolific against Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and the Carabao Cup semi-final against Spurs.
And Brentford almost certainly won’t make things easy for them later, with Thomas Frank’s side posing an obvious threat with the likes of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa – the Bees are actually one of the league’s most potent teams this season, with only Liverpool (48), Tottenham (43), Arsenal and Chelsea (both 41) having scored more than their 40 goals.
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There are plenty of reasons for Liverpool to feel confident that they can bring an end to their winless league run though, even if they are without Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz this afternoon.
For starters, the Reds have already beaten Brentford once this season, having won the reverse fixture 2-0 at Anfield back in August thanks to goals from Diaz and Mohamed Salah. That was only the second game of the season, when the players would have been still working out Slot’s methods, so with more than half of the season now behind them, they should – in theory – be able to improve upon that showing.
And even if they can’t rely upon Diaz on this occasion, Darwin Nunez may feel he can answer some of his critics today. He does, after all, have happy memories of visiting Brentford.
The Uruguay international has not had the best of seasons so far, but he could well return to the starting line-up today – if he does, he’ll be hoping for a similar performance to his last visit to the Gtech Community Stadium. Nunez scored with an audacious chip to set up a 4-1 victory for the Reds last season – the sort of finish that he could really do with again to boost his own confidence.
Darwin Nunez celebrates after scoring the opening goal in Liverpool’s 4-1 win at Brentford last season -Credit:Getty Images
He’s not the only one to hold happy memories of Brentford, with Alexis Mac Allister, Salah and Cody Gakpo also scoring in that game last season, and all three will almost certainly be starting later.
Salah is in the rare position of having not scored in his last two outings for Liverpool, and will want to put that right. The Egyptian’s recent form has perhaps summed up the Reds’ start to 2025, although it hasn’t all been bad.
Bar the blank drawn against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, Liverpool has still been finding ways to score, and they still only have the one defeat to their name in the league this season. Had it not been for an inspired Matz Sels at Forest on Tuesday, they probably would have been going into today’s encounter with a seven-point lead to their name.
A repeat of that second-half performance in Nottingham would surely be too much for Brentford to handle, and send a clear message out to Arsenal ahead of their evening game against Aston Villa.