Salah proves Liverpool awakening at the expense of Brentford
Liverpool's outstanding Premier League results continued, securing a hard-fought victory over hosts Brentford 1-0 on Saturday night, in round 35.
Egyptian star Mohamed Salah scored the game's only goal in the 13th minute, bringing the Reds' tally to 62 points in the fifth, while Brentford's tally froze at 50 points in the ninth.
Liverpool continued in the final metres of the season, securing a sixth consecutive victory in the Premiership, while they have not been beaten since 8 games.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp resorted to a 4-3-3 gameplay and made no change to the backline formation, with Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dyke in the deep, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson on the periphery.
In contrast, Brentford coach Thomas Frank relied on the 5-3-2 gameplay, with a defence composed of five-eighth Aaron Hickey, Matthias Jorgensen, Ethan Pinnock, Ben Mee and Rico Henry.
Frank Onyeka played the fulcrum player, with Matthias Jensen and Vitaly Yanlett in front of him, behind offensive duo Ivan Toni and Brian Mbuemo.
Liverpool's attempts began with the 8th minute when Salah followed a rebound from Brentford's defence after a corner, and the Egyptian shot from the outskirts of the box, but goalkeeper David Rea was on schedule.
Liverpool opened the scoring in the 13th minute, when Fabinho sent in Van Dyke's cross, which in turn set it up with a header for Salah to come from behind, which the net deposited in two batches from short range.
Jones got the ball from Jota, then fired a long-range shot, in place of goalkeeper Raya at 20 minutes.
Liverpool almost scored the second goal in the 29th minute, when Alexander-Arnold cleverly dropped the ball over the defenders, reaching Nunez, who failed to follow it up despite the absence of censorship.
Arnold lost the ball at a critical location, and Mbueno passed a through ball to Tony in front of the goal, but Liverpool defender Konate intervened and cut the ball in time with 33 minutes.
Video technology cancelled out Brentford's Mbuemo's goal in the 40th minute, for being offside.
Liverpool were close to consolidating their lead with a second goal in the 53rd minute, when Jota crossed in front of the goal, and Jackpo wanted to pursue it, but it hit hard in the foot to go away
.
Salah's goal-side attempt passed in the 58th minute, and Liverpool then involved Luis Diaz in Jota's place, and Hickey failed to get in front of the goal to Jensen's cross in the 67th minute.
Goalkeeper Raya stepped in to save his own goal in the 78th minute, when he cleared a powerful shot from Arnold, before Costas Tsimikas and James Milner shared Robertson's and Jones' place.
Hickey failed to deal with a long ball in front of his own goal, reaching Jackpo, who struck next to the near post in the 84th minute. The result remained unchanged in the following moments, with Liverpool continuing their sobriety in recent games with an important 1-0 win.