On a Saturday where Liverpool fans were unwelcoming of the God Save The King Anthem that was played before the commencement of a Premier League game in honour of the coronation of King Charles III and the Queen Consort, the Reds still found a way to edge Brentford at Anfield.
It was a struggle to hear the sound of the anthem as the players uncomfortably moved toward the centre-circle where they gathered shoulder to shoulder, massive chants of “Liverpool, Liverpool” took over from the boos.
On the action that went down in Merseyside, Liverpool used the following starting XI (4-3-3): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Jones, Gakpo, Jota, Salah and Nunez.
Brentford starting XI (5-3-2): Raya; Zanka, Pinnock, Mee; Hickey, Jensen, Onyeka, Janelt, Henry; Mbeumo and Toney.
The away side Brentford got the English Premier League clash underway, Mathias Jensen with the first kick of the game.
It was a keenly fought encounter involving the two teams but Liverpool edged it at the end of the day.
On the 5th minute, the first yellow card of the match went to Van Dijk after the Dutchman slid Frank Onyeka from behind.
3 minutes before quarter of the hour mark, Mohammed Salah netted his 19th goal of the season to give Liverpool the lead.
Fabinho sent in a delightful cross into the area that connnected to the head of an unmarked Virgil Van Dijk who headed it across to find Mohammed Salah with the Egyptian applying a simple finish.
On the 27th minute, Bryan Mbuemo was brandished a yellow card for a foul on former Wolverhampton attacker, Diogo Jota.
Liverpool broke forward on a counter after clearing a free-kick from Thomas Frank’s side, Jota ran down the middle of the pitch before he was stopped by Mbuemo.
2 minutes later, The reds could have gotten a second after a wonderful pass into the area and to the direction of Nunez, but the Uruguayan couldn’t bury the chance.
3 minutes before the end of the first 45, Fabinho got his name penned down in the referee’s book after banging into Ivan Toney.
The boot of the Brazilian went across the top of his leg, but it was not dangerous.
After the 3 minutes of additional time of the first 45 was up, the referee signaled the end of the first half.
The second half kicked off with much urgency from the two teams but their efforts didn’t yield any goal.
7 minutes before the hour mark, Mohammed Salah played the ball down on the right with Jota running into the area.
He afterwards fired in a low cross from one end to another end into the center of the 18-yard-box to the direction of Cody Gakpo.
Gakpo was freed and he had an open net to aim for, anyway, it came to him rapidly hitting his leg and bouncing away.
Ibrahima Konate was booked on the 54th minute for his antics and after making a lot of fouls across the encounter.
Jurgen Klopp made his first substitution in the game in the 65th minute introducing Luiz Diaz for Darwin Nunez.
Brentford’s Rico Henry was yellow-carded for dragging Netherland international Cody Gakpo on the 70th minute.
Rico Henry was substituted two minutes later after he appeared to have pulled up a knock, he was replaced by Kevin Schade.
Frank Onyeka also came on to replace Joshua Da Silva while Liverpool brought on Jordan Henderson for Diogo Jota.
Allison Becker was shown a yellow card on the 77th minute after the Liverpool goalie wasted a lot of time before playing a goal kick.
Jurgen Klopp focused on seeing out the game with their lead intact brought on James Milner for Curtis Jones and Konstantinos Tsimikas for Andrew Robertson in the 82nd minute.
Thomas Frank also introduced two new players into the game bringing on Mikkel Damsgaard for Vitaly Janelt.
The Bees also substituted Mathias Jensen for Shandon Baptiste.
The Reds got a big chance 6 minutes before the end of the game, Aaron Hickey couldn’t clear a long ball sent forward as he directed an header towards Gakpo due to a pressure from Salah.
Cody Gakpo got into the area and fired an effort towards the post, but his attempt went wide.
Brentford made their last substitution in the game bringing on Yoane Wissa for Aaron Hickey.
After the entire duration of the 90 mins and additional time, Liverpool came out victorious at Anfield.
That victory leaves Liverpool one point off the top 4 as they have amassed 62 points while 4th placed United have got 63 though with two games outstanding.
Brentford sit 9th, 5 points ahead of Fulham who occupy 10th after 35 games played.
