Brentford 3-2 Liverpool: Slot's champions suffer fourth straight Premier League defeat

Liverpool slipped to a fourth straight Premier League defeat as an aerial bombardment helped Brentford overcome the defending champions 3-2 at the Gtech Community Stadium.

Keith Andrews' side put Liverpool's penalty area under siege with a flurry of long throws in the first half, with the very first of them resulting in a goal.

Michael Kayode's hurl from the left flank was flicked on by Kristoffer Ajer at the near post, allowing Dango Ouattara to acrobatically steer home from close quarters.

Florian Wirtz then missed a good chance to get Liverpool level, and Brentford went 2-0 up in the 45th minute as Mikkel Damsgaard's sublime through-ball set up Kevin Schade for a one-v-one finish.

Liverpool got back within one on the stroke of half-time, with Milos Kerkez turning Conor Bradley's cross home as Brentford complained that the half-time whistle had not gone.

But rather than wilt, Brentford struck back in the second period.

Virgil van Dijk's challenge on Ouattara was initially deemed to have taken place outside the box and given as a free-kick by referee Tim Robinson, who had to replace the injured Simon Hooper at half-time, but a VAR review found it was on the line and Brentford were awarded a penalty, which Igor Thiago converted.

Mohamed Salah, who was back in the starting fold after being benched against Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek, gave Liverpool hope with a brilliant touch and finish in the 89th minute, though he could not turn home at the back post when presented with their best chance to level 11 minutes into stoppage time.

Liverpool finish Saturday sixth in the table and could drop further behind the leading pack by the end of the weekend.

Data Debrief: Another upset for long-throw specialists

Brentford have now won 33% of their games against the reigning Premier League champions (three of nine). Among all teams to play more than two seasons in the competition, only Manchester United (44%), Liverpool (39%) and Manchester City (38%) have a better win percentage in such matches.

Ouattara's opener set them on their way, and Brentford have now scored eight Premier League goals from throw-ins since the start of 2024-25, more than twice as many as any other side.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have now lost as many Premier League games in 2025-26 as they did across the entirety of last season. 

They are just the fourth reigning Premier League champions to lose four consecutive games after Leicester City in 2016-17 (five), Liverpool themselves in 2020-21 and Man City last season (four). Those sides finished 12th, third and third, respectively.

Salah's wonderful late strike proved a mere consolation, though he is now just one goal away from hitting 250 for Liverpool, while his next Premier League goal involvement will take him joint-third in the all-time charts, alongside Frank Lampard (279), and level with Wayne Rooney (276) for Premier League goal contributions for one club.