Brentford vs Liverpool Predictions

• Liverpool have won four of their last five Premier League games with at least three goals in all of them
• Brentford have lost seven of their last nine league matches with three of more goals in seven of them
• Liverpool have scored three times in four of their five Premier League meetings with Brentford
• Diogo Jota has scored in four of his last six games, including a brace at Bournemouth

Reds have been revelling in early starts

Liverpool should be able to extend their lead at the Premier League summit on Saturday’s early game against an awkward Brentford side at the Gtech Community Stadium.

After taking only three points from a possible 18 in Saturday lunchtime kick-offs last season, it is fair to say Jurgen Klopp is not beloved of them. But his team have an enviable record this season – winning three and drawing one of their four games in the 12.30pm slot.

Klopp’s team should have Mohamed Salah back to bolster their ranks this weekend, although they have not lost much ground in the title race during his injury/AFCON-enforced absence. This month’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal remains the only time they have dropped points since a pre-Christmas 1-1 draw with the same opponents.

Diaz could make way for Salah’s return

A Salah-less strikeforce of Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz have helped the Reds rack up three or more goals in four of their last five Premier League contests and the output seems unlikely to drop off now the Egyptian star is ready to return.

Diaz, who was benched for Liverpool’s 3-0 home win over Brentford in November, looks set to be the fall guy again with Klopp having chosen to go with set-piece specialists for that particular game. The German may be anticipating another game where Brentford attempt to disrupt Liverpool’s flow with fouls and seek to score from their own free-kicks and corners, which they managed to do 19 times last term.

Such an approach has yielded points for the Bees on Liverpool’s last two trips to their new home, a 3-3 draw and a memorable 3-1 win. But they look more fragile at the back this season and could struggle to contain a well-drilled Reds rearguard that would benefit from the return of goalkeeper Alisson too.

Jota can sting the Bees again 

It is hard to overlook Liverpool in the match result market at the moment, but it is well worth backing the visitors to win with at least three goals in the game. The Merseysiders have seen Over 2.5 goals land in two-thirds of their games this season while only two of the Bees’ home games have been under that mark since the campaign began.

Another worthwhile wager is to back Diogo Jota to come up with a goal. The Portuguese attacker, who scored in the 3-0 win over Brentford at Anfield, headed home from a corner against Burnley last weekend to make it five goals in his last six games.