Mohamed Salah scored the only goal of the game as Liverpool edged past Brentford to keep up the hunt for Champions League football.
Action: Liverpool started the better of the two sides at Anfield and took the lead after just 13 minutes. The goal began with a corner that Brentford defended but Liverpool were able to keep the ball with Fabinho picking it up on the edge of the box.
The Brazilian did well to chip a pass into the box for Virgil van Dijk to head down into the ground for Mohamed Salah to scramble the ball into the back of the net. It wasn’t the Egyptian’s greatest-ever goal but it did complete two milestones: his 30th of the season and his 100th in front of the Anfield faithful.
The home side should have made it 2-0 just before the half-hour mark when Trent Alexander-Arnold scooped a pass over the Brentford defence that Darwin Núñez got to but couldn’t convert from close range.
Thomas Frank’s team started to grow into the game as it went on and briefly looked like they had equalised just before half-time. Ivan Toney’s neat ball found Bryan Mbeumo who did well to hold off the challenge of Van Dijk before scoring but the goal was ruled out for an offside.
Trent Alexander-Arnold also fired a powerful shot that required a fine stop from David Raya.
Jürgen Klopp’s side had on occasion looked suspect defensively this season but did well to defend Brentford’s set-pieces even in stoppage time when Raya joined the attack.
The result sees them close the gap on fourth-placed Manchester United with the Reds moving within a point of their rivals who still have two games in hand.
Post-match: Goalscorer Mohamed Salah speaking to Sky: "We take it game by game and see what will happen. We have improved a lot during the last couple of weeks... clean sheets are really important for us... we are more stable as a team and we need to carry on... we will fight hard.”
xG: Liverpool (2.04) 1-0 (0.22) Brentford
Stat of the Day: This was Allison Becker's 100th clean sheet for Liverpool in 228 games.
Making it six wins on the spin.
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) May 6, 2023
UP THE REDS 🔴 pic.twitter.com/Lajf2FFhHs
1-0 | ||
Mohamed Salah 13' |
