Who: Brentford vs Liverpool
Content: English Premier League
Location: Brentford Community Stadium, London, England
Date and time: Saturday 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: Get everything ready on Al Jazeera Sports from 5pm (16:00 GMT) ahead of our live text commentary stream.
Liverpool ended a four-game losing streak with a come-from-behind win against Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday, but the Premier League champions’ title defense is likely to be put to another tough test at Brentford.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The Reds lost 2-1 at home to fierce rivals Manchester United on Sunday, snapping a fourth straight defeat, three of which were in the league.
Brentford themselves put United under pressure with a 3-1 home win on 27 September, but after their long-awaited breakthrough to the top of the table, they have had a mixed season compared to their impressive performances in recent years.
Liverpool will be favorites to take the three points, but the Brentford Community Stadium in west London is not an easy place to visit and there are question marks hanging over Arne Slott’s side, including the selection of mercurial Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah.
Al Jazeera Sports has detailed coverage of Saturday’s notable Premier League matches.
What’s the latest on Liverpool striker Isak?
Alexander Isak had a dominant start to his Liverpool career, but suffered another setback after sustaining a groin injury during the Champions League victory in Frankfurt.
The Swedish striker, who was signed from Newcastle for a record £125 million at the end of the summer transfer window, was sent off at half-time of the 5-1 win.
Right-back Jeremy Frimpong was forced off midway through the first half with a hamstring problem, making it Liverpool’s second injury of the night.
Isak trained away from Newcastle’s main squad during pre-season and has sharpened his game in recent weeks after making a move towards Liverpool. He has scored just one goal in eight competitive games for his new club.
Slott said last week that given the player’s tumultuous preseason, now is the only time he can fairly evaluate Isak.
“Hopefully it’s not too bad, but he had to leave because he hurt his groin,” the Liverpool manager said. “A lot of people wanted me to play him more, so I had to find a balance, and unfortunately that balance didn’t quite work out today. But let’s hope for the best.”
Slott spoke about the difficulty of managing Isak’s minutes last month and said the fact that the striker had featured twice for Sweden in recent international matches strengthened his belief that he was ready to seize a starting role.
“When he came to the club, he hardly trained,” said the Dutchman. “So, you take him step by step, and you feel there must be a moment when he can play twice a week, and the first time we tried, he did that in Sweden too, but he had to be sent off.
“Normally you try to prepare the players for one football a week, but in Liverpool’s case they play every three days, normally they play three times in eight days, but this season we have been unlucky. We have to play three times in seven days.”
“We’ve been trying to prepare him for that. We were really careful and he was perfectly fit when he came back from the national team before the game against (Manchester) United on Sunday. We thought he was well prepared for it, but the gap at the top is small.”
Match Week 9 menu 🍿 pic.twitter.com/u4TrziF6W9
— Premier League (@premierleague) October 24, 2025
Could Isaac’s injury help Liverpool?
The loss of the Premier League’s most expensive player could actually help Slott find the right formula to turn Liverpool’s fortunes around.
The Swedish attacker’s only goal since arriving from Newcastle came in the League Cup against Second Division Southampton.
Isak was substituted at half-time in Wednesday’s 5-1 Champions League win against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Liverpool suddenly shifted into gear in the second half, with Hugo Ekitike returning as a centre-forward and Florian Wirths now able to prefer playing behind the strikers.
Wirtz, who had missed the last two Premier League games, recorded his first two assists since his £100 million ($133 million) move from Bayer Leverkusen.
Despite making an excellent start to the season, including five goals in 11 appearances, Ekitike did not start in any of Liverpool’s three Premier League defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and United.
Isak’s absence should allow the 23-year-old to play in the team he so desperately desires.
Should Liverpool take Salah out of the EPL?
Slott said on Friday that he was “last concerned” about Salah scoring again after the Liverpool forward’s lackluster run with the club extended to six games.
The Egyptian international has not scored in an exhibition game in the Premier League since the opening weekend of the season and was left out of the starting XI for Liverpool’s win over Frankfurt in midweek.
He was also substituted in the final stages of Liverpool’s loss to Manchester United, missing two big chances despite the home team desperately chasing an equalizer.
Slott said he did not understand why Salah, who won the Premier League Golden Boot award last season, was struggling.
“Generally in football players miss chances, but Mo is also a human being,” he said at the pre-match press conference.
“So we’re not used to him missing chances, let alone missing chances several games in a row, but these things can happen.”
But the manager is confident Salah, who has scored just two goals in eight Premier League games this season, will rediscover his cutting edge.
“My biggest concern is Mo starting to score again,” he said.
“Because that’s what he’s done all his life and that’s what I expect him to do for our club in the coming weeks and months.”
Liverpool won the Premier League title last season and spent around 450 million pounds ($600 million) on new players in the summer transfer window.
The injury departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid meant that a number of different players were used at right-back, including midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai.
Slott admitted his squad, including 33-year-old Salah, who plays on the right side of Liverpool’s attack, have taken time to adjust.
“He was often in promising positions enough to score goals, but probably more with Trent. I don’t know,” he said.
“But generally for any player, if there are quite a few changes to the team over the summer, everyone has to find new connections again and it usually goes like this.
“Mo is no exception.”
direct confrontation
This is the 24th time the two teams have met, with Liverpool winning 15 times and Brentford winning four of those meetings.
The Reds have won the last four games between the two teams.
brentford team news
Aaron Hickey is out with a knee injury, while Antoni Mirambo remains sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament issue. Josh DaSilva recently returned to the club but will also be sidelined with a knee problem.
liverpool team news
Jeremy Frimpong and goalkeeper Alisson Becker missed the game against Brentford with hamstring injuries, while Slott is awaiting updates on Isaac and midfielder Ryan Gravenbirch.
Brentford’s expected starting lineup
Kelleher. Collins, Van den Bergh, Pinnock. Kayod, Henderson, Yarmoluk, Lewis Potter. Damsgaard; Thiago Schade
Liverpool’s expected starting lineup
Mamadashvili; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkes. Graven Birch, Mac Allister. Salah, Shoboshlai, Gakpo. Equitique
