Brentford condemned Liverpool to their fourth successive defeat in the Premier League, as the reigning champions suffer their worst losing run in the competition since February 2021.
Liverpool suffered their fourth consecutive Premier League defeat to fall further off the pace at the top of the table. Brentford’s 3-2 victory in west London means that the Reds are on their longest losing streak in the league since February 2021 and have already equalled their tally of defeats on the way to the 2024-25 title (4).
Goals from Dango Ouattara, Kevin Schade and an Igor Thiago penalty were enough to secure victory for Keith Andrews’ side despite Milos Kerkez and Mohamed Salah scoring for Liverpool.
Arne Slot’s team looked lethargic throughout, possibly displaying the effects of a midweek Champions League trip to Frankfurt, deservedly suffering defeat to a hard-working Brentford outfit.
Long throws have made a comeback this year in the Premier League, and Brentford have become the team to make the most of them. For the eighth time since the start of 2024-25, the Bees scored following a throw-in to open the scoring in this match.
For the sixth competitive game running, Liverpool conceded first. Michael Kayode launched a throw into the Liverpool box, which was flicked on via the head of Kristoffer Ajer before reaching Ouattara at the back post, who sent an acrobatic shot into the back of Giorgi Mamardashvili’s net.
Brentford scored a second just before half-time, moments after Liverpool believed they should have won a penalty. Cody Gakpo looked to have been tripped by Nathan Collins in the box, but no penalty was given, and less than a minute later a pass from inside his own half by Mikkel Damsgaard found Schade running through the middle of the pitch. Too quick for Ibrahima Konaté, he carried the ball into the box before slotting past Mamardashvili to double the Bees’ lead.
Since the start of May, Liverpool have conceded 2+ goals in more Premier League games than any other side (9), but Kerkez handed them a lifeline with the final kick of the first half. He scored his first goal for the club after Conor Bradley’s low cross evaded Hugo Ekitiké and reached the Hungarian 21-year-old at the back post to half the deficit with a strike beyond Reds’ goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher.
That goal meant that Liverpool have now scored in 43 successive Premier League matches, with only Arsenal’s 55-game run between 2001-2002 and Manchester City’s 44-game run between 1936-1937 longer in English top-flight league history.
Scoring goals, quite evidently, isn’t their problem. It’s the failure to keep them out at the other end of the pitch which looks like derailing a potential back-to-back Premier League title.
Brentford were given a controversial penalty 15 minutes into the second half after replacement referee Tim Robinson – who took over from Simon Hooper at half-time – originally gave a free-kick on the edge of the box following a Virgil van Dijk foul. But the VAR intervened after noticing the infringement occurred on the 18-yard line, giving Thiago the opportunity from the penalty spot to score his sixth league goal of the season; an opportunity he didn’t pass up.
Starting for a 50th successive Premier League game, Salah gave Liverpool some hope with a smart finish in the 89th minute with his first non-penalty goal in the competition this season.
Seven added minutes gave Liverpool hope that they could score yet another injury-time winner in the Premier League after previous victories versus Newcastle and Burnley in the competition in 2025-26, but no goal could be mustered.
Following this latest defeat, Liverpool find themselves in sixth place, but tomorrow’s Premier League games could see them fall even lower at the end of Matchday 9. More concerning for the Reds is the fact that Arsenal could go seven points clear of them already should they be victorious against Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium. Of course, there is plenty of action left to play out in 2025-26, but it’s not looking good for Liverpool.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Brentford vs Liverpool stats from their Premier League meeting at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday night.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Brentford 3-2 Liverpool Post-Match Facts
Brentford have won 33% of their games against the reigning Premier League champions (3/9), among teams to play more than two seasons in the competition, only Manchester United (44%), Liverpool (39%) and Manchester City (38%) have better win percentage against these sides.
Liverpool became just the fourth reigning Premier League champions to lose four consecutive games after Leicester in 2016-17 (5), Liverpool themselves in 2020-21 (4) and Manchester City last season (4).
Liverpool have now lost as many Premier League games this season as they did in the entirety of last season (4). They’ve lost four consecutive league games for the first time since February 2021, while their previous four defeats came across a run of 47 matches (W32 D11).
Since the start of May, Liverpool have conceded 2+ goals in more Premier League games than any other side (9), while they’ve conceded 14 goals in their nine Premier League games this season – they didn’t concede their 14th goal last season until MD16.
Brentford have scored eight Premier League goals from throw-ins since the start of last season, more than twice as many as any other side.
Premier League Stats Opta
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