Bees make it tough for Liverpool, but Nunez strikes twice in injury time to win the day
Brentford (0) 0
Liverpool (0) 2 Nunez 91, 93
Brentford channelled their stubborn side to push Liverpool all the way but finally succumbed to two injury-time strikes from Darwin Nunez.
Goaded by home fans for being 'a sh*t Andy Carroll' the Uruguyan had the last laugh.
But the Bees made it really tough for the visitors and came to close to frustrating them to the very end.
With the clock slipping into the red and the job appearing to have been done by the Bees, Trent Alexander-Arnold managed to clip the ball across the six yard box at the second attempt and Nunez was right there to slam home from no distance.
And a couple of minutes later, Harvey Elliott - who like Nunez had come off the bench to contribute - teed up the second, which Nunez blasted high into the roof of the net beyond Mark Flekken.
Those extra vital minutes had been the saviour for Brentford in the midweek draw with Man City. Not so this time.
In stark contrast to the midweek trade-off in goal action with City, this game was all about the Bees trying to choke the league leaders, and about keeping shape, patience and belief.
Liverpool had all the ball and peppered the Bees goal with shots. But it was to the hosts' immense credit that they managed to reign in the xG and restrict the clear openings.
Dominic Szoboszlai thudded a 25-yard drive against the top of the crossbar and Cody Gakpo made a hash of a great chance before the break after being set up by Mo Salah in a lightning raid. But there was no reason for the Gtech faithful to ever lose heart.
In fact, Mikkel Damsgaard very nearly got on the end of Bryan Mbeumo's cross in the opening moments to ensure the visitors could take nothing for granted in their quest to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
A failure to turn all that dominance into the hard currency of goals caused Arne Slot to send on Nunez in place of a wasteful Luis Diaz, which was definitely a sign that Thomas Frank's men were doing something right.
They kept the league's top scorer very quiet too - Salah not having much of a sniff at goal until he bent a shot just wide a minute from the end.
And the Bees continued to look sharp on the break with raids ending in Mbeumo and a busy Yoane Wissa both working themselves into promising positions to test Alisson in goal.
A famous win was not out of the question, but in the end it was Slot's men who made off with the spoils.
Bees: (4-3-1-2) Flekken - Roerslev, Collins, van deb Berg, Lewis-Potter - Janelt (Schade 64), Norgaard, Yarmoliuk - Damsgaard (Jensen 80) - Mbeumo, Wissa
Reds: (4-2-3-1) Alisson - Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Tsimikas (Robertson 64) - Gravenberch, MacAllister (Jones 80) - Salah, Szoboszlai (Elliott 80), Gakpo (Chiesa 87) - Diaz (Nunez 64)
Attendance: 17,215
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