Premier League: Sky Blues Dealt with…Next up for Brentford it’s Liverpool!

Brentford vs Liverpool

Thomas Frank’s Brentford pulled off another great result on Tuesday night, drawing 2-2 with reigning champions Manchester City, and now the mighty Bees face league leaders Liverpool.

Frank is one of the best managers in the business and he has gradually improved this Brentford side since they first reached the Premier League back in 2021. Now in his fourth season as a top flight manager Frank has led his team to a top ten position this week, following up a 5-0 demolition of Southampton with a draw against the Sky Blues.     

While Brentford were frustrating Manchester City on Tuesday, Arne Slot’s Liverpool visited Nottingham Forest and they too picked up a point to retain their six point lead at the top of the table, with Arsenal able to close that gap to four points if they can beat Tottenham in the North London derby on Wednesday night.   

 

Talking Points

Bees are buzzing again  

It’s been a funny old week for Brentford who are always good value for SBOTOP football fans. The Bees crashed out of the FA Cup in a 1-0 defeat at home to Championship strugglers Plymouth and then had to take on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Tuesday, and this time they did the business again against one of the league’s biggest guns. And it was a stunning fight-back which earned Frank’s boys a draw after Phil Foden had given Manchester City a two goal lead with just ten minutes left on the clock. It was Danish midfielder Christian Norgaard who broke Sky Blue hearts with a towering header in injury time, and that after Yoanne Wissa had turned quickly to fire home a goal on 82 minutes. That made it 11 goals for the season for the 28-year-old forward and he joined the top seven Premier League scorers alongside team-mate Bryan Mbeumo, who is up to 13 goals after he scored a brace during the destruction of Southampton last week.

To have two strikers in double figures in January is quite a thing for any team in the English top flight; no other club has two at the time of writing and that level of performance, if it continues into the run-in, will give the Bees an outside chance of earning European football. 24 year old attacking midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard has six assists and he will stretch the Liverpool defence but, at the other end of the pitch, keeper Mark Flekken will be a busy man again after he faced eight shots on target on Tuesday night, making six crucial saves.       

 

Jota stakes his claim

The competition for places in Liverpool’s front line is fierce, and Arne Slot has a nice dilemma to ponder as the recently returned Diogo Jota scored for the second time in four days. The Portuguese star bagged one of the Reds’ goals in a 4-0 FA Cup win over Accrington Stanley at the weekend and then he was the man on target to save a point against high-flying Forest. Jota headed the Reds’ leveller from a Kostas Tsimikas cross just 22 seconds after both players had climbed off the bench and Slot will rightly take some credit for his tactical change which reaped such quick dividends.

Liverpool may have hoped for a win but they did emerge unscathed, while ending Nottingham Forest’s six match winning run in the Premier League. Mo Salah had a rare quiet night, but with 18 goals and 13 assists the Egyptian remains the best forward in the league while Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo will both be hoping for a start. Darwin Nunez is back from suspension but if anyone is to dislodge one of the first choice front three then I’d say Jota has made the best case. 

 

History

With five wins to one and one draw Liverpool have bossed the Bees in their previous meetings and Slot’s team beat Frank’s boys 2-0 on the second week of this campaign  

In terms of recent form Liverpool have won four from the last seven while Brentford have won one from seven, but the Bees have picked up four points from the last two games.   

The Premier League 2025 betting odds still heavily back a Liverpool title but with two draws on the bounce in the league and a first leg loss in the Carabao Cup semi-final to contend with, Slot will be hoping for a return to winning ways in West London, and with an away record of seven wins and three draws the Reds will take some stopping.  

 

Betting Tip

Liverpool fans will be listening carefully to the Premier League 2025 updates on Wednesday night in the hope that Tottenham can get something in their clash with Arsenal; and then it’s on to the weekend when Slot’s men are back in action. 

Liverpool are priced at 1.42 to win with Brentford at 5.13 with the draw at 4.44. The Bees will be confident of upsetting another member of the elite and I hope to see both teams on the front foot.  

   

●●●

CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS

Stay updated with everything sports and betting.

Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.