WISSARD OF ODDS!
TOM HOPKINSON Yo-yo finale as Bees cause upset again...
BRENTFORD again proved themselves capable of going toe-to-toe with the Premier League elite clubs, on a pulsating evening in west London.
Thomas Frank’s side more than played their part in a sixgoal thriller that was every bit as frenetic in stoppage-time as it had been in the opening 10 minutes.
Goals from Ethan Pinnock and Diogo Jota saw the two sides go in level at half-time.
And after the break, four more players were on target with Mo Salah, Vitaly Janelt, Curtis Jones and Yoane Wissa finding the back of the net.
Salah’s goal was a history maker — the Egyptian ace becoming the third-fastest player to reach 100 league goals for Liverpool, in 150 games, two behind Roger Hunt and one behind Jack Parkinson.
He is also now the 10th highest scorer in Reds’ history.
But while he will enjoy those accolades and the point Liverpool picked up moved them a point clear at the top of the league, this still felt at the final whistle very much like it was Brentford’s day.
Never once did a side which is playing its first season of Premier League football look overawed by their illustrious visitors.
And they fully deserved the point their efforts earned them when substitute Wissa struck late on.
The game exploded into life early on when a lovely ball from Jota released Salah.
He reached it ahead of David
Raya and poked his effort goalwards but Kristoffer Ajer slid in to clear his lines and the angle was too tight for Sadio Mane.
Ivan Toney went close with a header at the other end and, suddenly buoyant themselves, Brentford had another good opening that Frank Onyeka fired over.
Toney’s clever header into Bryan Mbeumo’s path caused more problems in Liverpool’s defence but he went with the pitching wedge instead of nine iron over Alisson, and Joel Matip cleared at the last moment.
Things calmed slightly after that but, even so, there was still a buzz about the game and it was no surprise as Brentford took the lead with a brilliantly worked free-kick.
Janelt played the dead ball to Christian Norgaard, whose clip freed former Liverpool player Sergi Canos.
His cross was flicked on by Toney and there was Pinnock, arriving with Fabinho at the back post, to turn the ball home.
It was one of those games in which there’d have been an argument for either side to have deserved their lead, so it wasn’t a shock when Liverpool levelled matters soon after.
Virgil van Dijk outmuscled
Toney, with whom he was enjoying a proper battle, and his header fell to Trent Alexanderarnold, who found Salah down the right-hand side.
Salah fed Jordan Henderson and his cross picked out Jota, who did the business with a good header.
This was the first league meeting of these two sides since May 1947 and it was as if they were making up for lost time.
Any fears that the break might take the sting out of the game were misplaced, with the second half picking up where the first had left off.
And soon Magic Mo had turned the scoreline on its head, prodding home Fabinho’s pass.
It was ruled out for offside but VAR overturned it.
Lesser sides would have crumbled then but Frank’s men were never going to and when Ajer crossed, Pontus Jansson was unlucky to hit the bar but Janelt headed the rebound home.
All done?
No chance because then it was Jones’s turn to fire home from just outside the box, his effort taking a deflection off Ajer which beat Raya.
Salah and Sadio Mane both fired over from close range – and Wissa made them pay.
Salah’s goal was a history maker, but while he will enjoy the accolades, this felt like Brentford’s day at the final whistle