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Liverpool travel to face Brentford on Monday in Premier League action with a victory pulling Jurgen Klopp’s team within a point of the top four. It has taken a while but Liverpool are beginning to string together victories as Leicester center-back Wout Faes scored an unfortunate brace of own goals to push the Reds to victory last time out. But Liverpool had to work to create the attacking chances to score those goals as well. The reintroduction of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlin has brought a much-needed balance back to the attack. Winners of four straight Premier League games after their shock loss to Leeds United, Liverpool have found their swagger but Thomas Frank’s Bees have been a thorn in Premier League teams sides.
Not afraid to take on anyone in the league, Brentford have taken down City, drawn Tottenham, and defeated West Ham United in their last three matches. That’s as tough of a stretch as any team in the league will face but the gauntlet continues with Liverpool. Frank will have a tough decision to make in who replaces Ivan Toney, who left the West Ham win on a stretcher due to a knee injury, but Bryan Mbeumo can make the Liverpool defense work. too.
Here’s our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Monday, Jan. 2 | Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Gtech Community Stadium — Brentford, England
- TV: USA | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
- Odds: Brentford +450; Draw +330; Liverpool -185 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Featured Game | Brentford vs. Liverpool
Storylines
Brentford: Frank will be getting quite a few players back in the near future as Aaron Hickey, Kristoffer Ajer, Frank Onyeka, and Thomas Strakosha are all returning to health. Toney’s situation is a weird one as he hasn’t been fully ruled out of the match yet but with such a short turnaround between Saturday and Monday, it doesn’t make sense for Brentford to risk their most important player in this match. Considering that they could be without Toney depending on how the FA decides to proceed following his betting allegations, it’s better for Toney to sit this one out and hopefully be healthy to pick up as many points as possible before a potential suspension.
Liverpool: Cody Gakpo is in the building but don’t expect him to make his debut against Brentford. When asked about when Gakpo would debut, Jurgen Klopp said, “There might be a chance for Brentford, but I think not really, to be honest. Because obviously, the first of January is a bank holiday, and then all the papers. We will not rush it anyway. So, probably Wolves.”
Andrew Robertson will also have a late fitness test after picking up a thigh injury but with games coming thick and fast, it’s a good opportunity to give Konstantinos Tsimikas a run out in what would be natural rotation for festive fixtures. Liverpool will hope that Darwin Nunez can hit the back of the net as he has gotten into good positions but isn’t making the right decisions because if things click, this team will roll with Gakpo coming to improve the attack.
Prediction
The Liverpool defense is a concern as they allow attacking chances for fun but the team is in full flow attacking. The Reds will get what they need to pull out a victory away to Brentford. Pick: Brentford 1, Liverpool 2
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