Premier League 2021-22: Liverpool 3-0 Brentford: 3 Factors which stood out

Liverpool beat Brentford 3-0 in their Premier League match at Anfield on Sunday. Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Takumi Minamino scored for the Reds in the 44th, 69th and 77th minute respectively.

Jurgen Klopp's side are now second in the league table with 45 points from 21 matches and trail Manchester City by 11 points with a match in hand. Newly promoted Brentford, on the other hand, are 14th with 23 points from the same number of matches.

Liverpool’s victory today means they are still in a position to challenge City for the title. However, Cityzens are still ahead by a decent margin and remain the favorites to win their fourth league title in five years.

On that note, let's take a look at the three factors which stood out in the match:

#1 Liverpool dominated the first half, but had to wait until the end for their first goal

Fabinho broke the deadlock from a corner

Quite expectedly, the Reds dominated the match from the outset. They had almost 75% ball-possession in the first half, but could only score once. They started the match in their customary 4-3-3 formation with Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Oxlade-Chamberlain upfront. Still, they missed the creative influence of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane in the final third, who are currently on national duty at AFCON.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was not very comfortable in the right-winger’s role and kept moving inside to a central position quite often. Jota was the primary creative outlet for Liverpool and made some probing runs through the left flank. Curtis Jones played in a deeper role in midfield and kept distributing tirelessly.

Liverpool’s attack looked scattered at times and they could only seriously threaten the Brentford defense from set-pieces. They earned six corners in the first half, of which five came inside the first 25 minutes. Virgil Van Dijk’s shot from one of those corners was saved wonderfully by Brentford goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez in the 21st minute.

Liverpool finally broke the deadlock from their sixth corner when Fabinho headed in to score his second goal in three matches.

#2 Brentford could only threaten occasionally and did not have the shooting accuracy

Brentford started with a 3-5-2 formation that turned 5-3-2 as both their full-backs fell back to defend. Their forwards struggled to hold the ball upfront and could hardly test the Liverpool defense. Moreover, they were frequently played offside by the Liverpool defenders whenever a through ball was played from the midfield.

As a result, the Brentford players decided to try their luck by shooting from outside the opposition penalty box. Vitaly Janelt saw his shot sail over the bar and Ivan Toney’s grounder missed the goal by a whisker. In the second half too, when Bryan Mbeumo could not keep his shot on target after somehow beating the offside trap.

The visitors finished the match without a single shot on target despite making numerous attempts. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker had a relatively easy day in the Liverpool goal and did not have to do much.

#3 Liverpool scored more in the second half as Brentford’s defensive frailties were exposed

Oxlade-Chamberlain scored with a good header

The Reds kept launching attacks on Brentford's goal in the second half too. However, it was painfully obvious that they were missing width in their attack through the right. Jordan Henderson often filled in as the right-sided midfielder and Trent Alexander-Arnold continued to make his customary overlapping runs.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s propensity to move inside made their formation 4-4-2 at times, with Henderson on the right and Jota on the left. Still, it was Oxlade-Chamberlain who showed a striker’s instinct in scoring from a header from Andrew Robertson’s inch-perfect cross.

Oxlade-Chamberlain could only score after a Brentford defender missed the flight of the ball and thereby could not clear it. However, the Reds' forward had to leave the field after suffering an injury and Minamino replaced him.

The defensive shortcomings of the visitors became even more evident when their goalkeeper played a feeble pass that was intercepted by Firmino. The Brazilian forward then played the ball to Minamino who finished easily from inside the box.

It was Minamino’s sixth goal of the season on his 27th birthday. Klopp then decided to hand Kaide Gordon his Premier League debut, but the 17-year-old didn't have much to do.

In the end, it was an easy victory for the Reds, as they remain in contention for a 20th Premier League title.