Liverpool vs Brentford LIVE: Premier League result and reaction from fixture today

Jurgen Klopp makes two changes to the Liverpool team that started against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Thursday. Takumi Minamino and James Milner drop to the bench with Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replacing them in the line-up.

There is just one change for Thomas Frank’s Brentford. Sergi Canos starts on the bench with Rico Henry brought into the starting line-up. Both players are fit again with Frank opting for Henry to start. Canos could make an appearance off the bench if needed.

Today’s other 2pm kick-off sees West Ham host Leeds United. Here are the confirmed line-ups from the London Stadium:

West Ham XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell; Rice; Lanzini, Fornals, Vlasic, Bowen; Antonio

Leeds XI: Meslier; Ayling, Koch, Struijk, Firpo; Dallas, Forshaw; Raphinha, Klich, Harrison; James

Liverpool XI: Alisson. Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Jones, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jota, Firmino

Brentford XI: Fernandez, Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock, Roerslev, Janelt, Norgaard, Baptiste, Henry, Mbeumo, Toney

After defeating Chelsea 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium yesterday Manchester City opened up a 13-point gap at the top of the Premier League table. Liverpool sit third and are 14 points behind the champions but have two games in hand and could cut that deficit to eight.

That is still a big gap to overhaul and Jurgen Klopp’s men would need to be almost perfect in order to have a chance to catch Pep Guardiola’s men. On top of that City would need to drop points themselves which seems unlikely based on their current form.

If Liverpool want to remain in the title race they need to kick start their season again starting with a win over Brentford this afternoon.

Thomas Frank says everyone at Brentford is looking forward to Sunday’s trip to Liverpool and confirmed Sergi Canos is set to be fit to face his former club.

Wing-back Canos made his return from a hamstring injury during Tuesday’s 4-1 loss at Southampton but was forced off to raise doubts about his chances of making an overdue appearance at Anfield.

The Spaniard moved to Merseyside as a teenager in 2013 but only played once for the Reds away to West Brom at the end of the 2015-16 campaign, before he departed Liverpool and carved out a career in England with the Bees via a short stint with Norwich.

Liverpool have not won in three Premier League matches after a defeat to Leicester sandwiched in between draws with Tottenham and Chelsea. Last time out the Reds were unable to beat Arsenal at Anfield despite the Gunners only having 10-men for the majority of the game after Granit Xhaka was sent off in the first half. It was the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final and Klopp will want to get back to winning ways today in order to take some momentum into the second leg at the Emirates on Thursday.

Brentford were heavily beaten by Southampton (4-1) last time out after winning both of their previous fixtures in 2022. Manager Thomas Frank was disappointed with the way the Bees performed at St. Marys and will want to see a more disciplined performance against Liverpool today even if Brentford are on the wrong side of the result.

Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp, has encouraged his players to take their opportunity in these games that the Reds have to play without trio Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Mo Salah who are at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Klopp says every player has a part to play to improve the team, especially if they want to reach the heights of previous seasons. He said:

Brentford manager Thomas Frank says he wants his team to bounceback after a disappointing performance against Southampton saw them lose 4-1 away from home in their last league game.

Frank says he wants his players to enjoy themselves at the iconic ground and the only way to do that is to get a positive result from the game. He said:

James Milner, Andy Robertson an Virgil van Dijk all picked up small knocks in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup tie with Arsenal but all three players are expected to be fit for today’s Premier League clash.

Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Mo Salah are all missing as they are at the African Cup of Nations.

Brentford’s Rico Henry should be fit to start and Sergi Canos has said he will play against Liverpool after a knock.

However, Josh Dasilva, David Raya, Charlie Goode and Mathias Jorgensen remain out and Frank Onyeka is also at AFCON.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank has backed Ivan Toney to give Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk another good battle on Sunday.

The Bees forward produced a superb display in the last meeting between the clubs in September, grabbing an assist and generally being a constant thorn in the Reds defence’s side with his aerial presence.

Toney goes into this weekend’s clash against the club he supported as a boy without a goal since the end of November. After scoring five times during the opening months of the campaign, the 25-year-old has now gone seven weeks and seven games in all competitions without finding the net.

A bout of Covid-19 in December has contributed towards the length of the mini-goal drought but Frank showed his forward some clips this week to point out he continues to get in good areas but just needs to improve his sharpness. He said: “I just showed him seven or eight situations from the Southampton game where he is nearly in, in the right area for a cross or a chipped ball behind and it is just about the quality of the cross or him being a little bit sharper.

“I think he is just a bit closer to where he is when he is at his best. The last two games you see the sharpness of his touches was not where it normally is.

“We spoke about that and he worked very hard (on Friday) but it is normal that he goes a little up and down. He is a player who is good to stay in games and the more he works to get that level up I think he will be fine.”

Full report: