Match Preview: Brentford v Liverpool

Brentford return to Gtech Community Stadium for the third time in a week on Saturday, with Premier League leaders Liverpool the visitors to TW8.

Thomas Frank’s side came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in a dramatic midweek game against Manchester City, while Liverpool drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the Bees’ latest test.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Brentford have plenty of positives to take into Saturday's clash

After an entertaining and fully deserved draw against the reigning champions, Brentford host the current Premier League leaders this Saturday and Thomas Frank will again relish the chance to go "toe-to-toe" with elite-level opposition.

Arne Slot's table toppers arrive in west London having lost just a single league fixture all season (a 1-0 reverse against Nottingham Forest at Anfield in August) and top of the newly formatted Champions League with a perfect record in Europe.

In Mohamed Salah (18 goals and 13 assists), Liverpool have by far the Premier League's most productive player this season and they lead the division for goals scored (48) - hitting the back of the net every 38 minutes on average.

However, buoyed by a fantastically resilient 2-2 draw against Manchester City on Tuesday night - after which Frank hailed the Bees' bravery, pressing and aggression - Brentford have plenty of positives of their own to take into Saturday's clash.

Still the top scorers on home soil across UEFA's top five leagues this season with 29 goals, the Bees have been formidable at the Gtech in 2024/25, and Frank will certainly have noted how Liverpool's opposition have caused the Reds problems in recent games.

Although the Merseysiders comfortably beat League Two Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup last weekend, they have failed to win their last three games against Premier League opposition: a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham in the last four of the Carabao Cup sandwiched between top-flight draws against Manchester United (2-2) and, most recently, Nottingham Forest (1-1).

Despite ceding more possession to Slot's side, the aforementioned trio of teams have matched up well with Liverpool in midfield while also managing to limit the havoc wreaked by Salah - and Brentford can look to deploy similar tactics.

Let's turn first to the impending midfield battle.

Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister have been outstanding for Liverpool this season, the Dutchman converted to a deep-lying no.6 to form a 'double pivot' combining technical quality with defensive nous.

Key to Liverpool's passing game, the pair are perhaps under-rated out of possession and Gravenberch ranks second in the Premier League for interceptions made (36), while only four players in the entire division have won more tackles than Mac Allister (58).

That said, the likes of Manuel Ugarte, Lucas Bergvall and Elliott Anderson have all impressed against Liverpool during the Reds' mini winless streak and Brentford's midfield trio of Vitaly Janelt, Christian Norgaard and Mathias Jensen will be keen to impose themselves in similar fashion.

In relation to Salah, there is only so much you can do! However, despite his penalty in the 2-2 draw against the Red Devils, the 32-year-old forward has failed to muster a goal involvement in his last two games and Liverpool have won neither - surely no coincidence.

Furthermore, Brentford have a gifted right winger of their own in Bryan Mbeumo, who is only five goals behind Salah in the Golden Boot race and is currently tied with the Egyptian for key passes in the Premier League this season (they rank joint-fifth with 42 each).

We'll finish up by focusing on the start of Saturday's big game. Brentford have won acclaim for their ability to start games well and a quick look at when Liverpool have scored/conceded goals this season highlights a potential vulnerability in the opening 15 minutes.

The Reds have a goal difference of -2 (three scored, five conceded) in the first quarter of an hour of Premier League games - and the only goal they have conceded in the current edition of the Champions League came after just three minutes against Milan.

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Slot has Liverpool competing on all fronts

Liverpool fans may well have feared for the future when Jürgen Klopp departed Anfield, but new boss Arne Slot has taken the Reds to the top of the Premier League table and has them competing on all fronts.

There was an understandable, but most underlying, level of trepidation at Anfield in the summer, when Jürgen Klopp left Liverpool after nine unforgettable years and Arne Slot stepped in.

Klopp gave his blessing to the Dutchman by singing his name when he said farewell to the club, which was something, but he had turned the Reds back into world-beaters, which, naturally, brought questions about when they would find themselves in the midst of another incredibly successful era.

Beating Manchester United and Arsenal in pre-season earned Slot some very early credit, but a perfect start going into the September international break was, of course, better received.

They beat Ipswich, Brentford and United without conceding, which made the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 14 September that bit harder to stomach.

“After the United game, which was a big win, or a statement win I think you call it here in England, then to see us coming back against Nottingham Forest like that, that was not what you expect from a team that wants to compete for something,” said Slot after his side got back on the horse with a 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

In fact, since the Forest game, Liverpool have not lost any of their last 16 league games, which makes it very easy to see why they have rocketed to the top of the Premier League table and only been prized away once since the start of October. Any of that aforementioned trepidation is long gone now.

There is no denying Arsenal’s stuttering and Man City’s surprising blip will have had an impact and given them a slighter smoother ride – they have taken four points from the games they have played against the pair so far – but leading the way is often tougher than it appears to be and they have stuck it out, building a healthy lead, too.

In truth, everything they seem to touch turns to gold of late. In the first year of the new Champions League format, Slot’s side have won every one of their six league phase games to date, conceding just once, and they sit three points clear of Barcelona at the top of the pile.

They made light work of Accrington Stanley last weekend to reach the FA Cup fourth round and, though they lost the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham recently, they will be favourites to progress to the final, given Spurs have only won twice at Anfield since 1998.

Is the quadruple on? It’s too early to say for sure, but you can be certain Slot would never be forgotten on Merseyside if he managed to not just achieve it, but achieve it in his first season in charge.

Any hopes of achieving it will rely pretty significantly on Mohamed Salah. The ‘Egyptian King’ has been on a different planet this term, with 21 goals and 17 assists in just 29 games in all competitions.

He’s registered all that while speculation about his future at the club beyond the end of this season is constantly on the news agenda.

One of the Premier League’s greats is in full flow and may not be in the league for much longer, so the only thing to do is enjoy it while he is still here, potentially leading Liverpool to something historic.

In the Dugout

Arne Slot

Arne Slot had a long career in his native Netherlands, which spanned 18 years from 1995 to 2013.

He was a goalscoring midfielder – once capped internationally at U19 level - who scored 100 league goals in 462 appearances, more than 300 of which came during spells at PEC Zwolle and NAC Breda.

During the three separate periods spent at Zwolle, he won the Eerste Divisie – the Netherlands’ second tier - in 2001/02 and 2011/12.

After retirement, Slot moved into a coaching role within Zwolle's youth academy, before four years at Cambuur, first as assistant to Henk de Jong, Marcel Keizer and then Rob Maas, then as joint head coach with Sipke Hulshoff.

The pair guided Cambuur to a third-place finish in the Eerste Divisie in 2016/17, which secured a play-off spot, though they were defeated 3-2 on aggregate by MVV Maastricht.

Slot left Cambuur in the summer of 2017 to take up the assistant role at AZ Alkmaar and he was handed the head coach job two years later.

His first and only full season in charge was disrupted by Covid-19 but, when the season was abandoned on 24 April 2020, his side were joint top with Ajax.

He lasted less than eight more months in the role before he was reportedly sacked for a lack of focus after agreeing a deal to take over at Feyenoord in 2021.

It was in Rotterdam that Slot really started to make a name for himself. In 2021/22, Feyenoord finished third in the Eredivisie and as UEFA Conference League runners-up.

In 2022/23, they won the league for the first time in six years, reached the semi-final of the KNVB Cup and the quarter-final of the Europa League.

And in 2023/24, they finished as Eredivisie runners-up and won the KNVB Cup.

In all, he won 98 of his 150 games in charge at De Kuip, before being named as Jürgen Klopp’s successor in April.

The Gameplan

With Andy Jones, Liverpool writer for The Athletic

Andy Jones, Liverpool writer for The Athletic, explains how Arne Slot is likely to set up his side at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday:

“Slot has stuck with the 4-2-3-1 system pretty much all season,” Jones told brentfordfc.com.

“They will have a double pivot, likely to be Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister, if all fit and well, and a no.10, with Slot shuffling between Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai.

“The latter has been ill recently so there is a likely chance he might get a few more games because of the workload that Jones has had.

“Then the front three will be interesting because he has got all six options available at the moment, which has not been the case all the way through.

“One of the things has come out of him not having Chiesa and Diogo Jota has been Díaz moving to the no.9 role again.

“Gakpo played predominantly as no.9 for Klopp, but Slot has moved him back to his more natural left wing position and he has flourished there and that has left him with Díaz, who was also playing very well in that left wing role at the start of the season.

“It is a very fluid system. They build up from the back, play through the thirds and Gravenberch and Mac Allister are really important. They will want to dominate possession and try to control the game, limiting Brentford to as few chances as possible.”

Last Premier League starting XI v Nottingham Forest (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konaté, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Luis Díaz

Pre-match press conference

No fresh injury concerns for Frank

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank gave an update on the fitness of his squad ahead of the Premier League clash with league leaders Liverpool on Saturday.

Rico Henry and Ben Mee both returned to the squad for the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Tuesday, with the former coming on as a substitute in the 87th minute, contributing to the Bees' late comeback.

"It's the same squad as Tuesday," Frank stated. "Everyone is available that was available for the Manchester City game. There are no new injuries."

On the busy week his team have had, Frank added: "We train hard with high intensity every session... but then we need to manage the workload with how long we train with that high intensity, what kind of extensive drills we build in.

"We had a very high-output game on Tuesday night, which means we have been in the whole week, no days off.

“The whole group were in on Wednesday to recover; on Thursday it was a light session with some tactical bits, preparing for Liverpool; Friday will be light as well, with the squad hopefully feeling fresh and ready to go for Saturday."

Match Officials

Madley the man in the middle at Gtech Community Stadium

Referee: Andrew Madley

Assistants: Nick Hopton and Craig Taylor

Fourth official: Farai Hallam

Video assistant referee: Paul Tierney

Andy Madley took charge of a Premier League game for the first time on 31 March 2018: a 2-2 draw between Watford and Bournemouth.

Last season, the 41-year-old officiated 35 matches, including four Brentford fixtures. The official showed 122 yellow cards and one red card last term.

This season, he has been the man in the middle for 14 matches, showing 60 yellow cards and three reds.

It’s a quick reunion with Madley, who refereed Brentford’s goalless draw with Brighton last month.

Memorable Meeting

Brentford 3 Liverpool 1 (Premier League, 2 January 2023)

Brentford beat Liverpool 3-1 to make it seven points from a possible nine over the festive period and climb to seventh in the Premier League.

Ibrahima Konaté turned into his own net to give the Bees a 19th-minute lead, which Yoane Wissa doubled on the stroke of half-time.

Liverpool pulled one back through Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain five minutes after the restart, but Brentford were not to be denied.

After keeping the Reds at bay, Bryan Mbeumo struck on the counter attack with six minutes to play to ensure a winning start to 2023.