Darwin Núñez’s injury-time double at Brentford keeps Liverpool on title track | Premier League

The Brentford fans should have known better. After all, Darwin Núñez had scored a fabulous goal against their team in the corresponding match here last season. Yet when Núñez came on as a 65th-minute substitute, they were ready with their taunt, one that compared him unfavorably to his former Liverpool predecessor, Andy Carroll.

Núñez had left for London after scoring just four times all season. The scrutiny burned. It was no kind of return for a record signing of £85m. Arne Slot had insisted that he would do well, that it was simply a matter of getting him into the right spaces and situations against deep-lying opponents. How it would ultimately work out for Núñez and Liverpool.

The initial signs were not good – a misdirected header, a wild burst into the stands. Liverpool had turned the screw all round and rained shots on the Brentford goal. When the board went up to show four extra minutes, they had tried for 35 – to no avail.

Finally they got one to work, and Núñez’s joy knew no bounds, the celebrations wild as hell. Another substitute, Harvey Elliott, had sparked the movement up the inside right and when Trent Alexander-Arnold got the ball, he struck low and there was Núñez to sweep home.

There was more. It was another Elliott assist and another Núñez finish; this one whipped high into the net, utterly emphatic. “You’re just a piece of shit Andy Carroll,” the song went. This time it was delivered with collective mischief from the traveling Liverpool supporters.

Liverpool needed this after draws against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest; having dropped points in four of their previous seven Premier League games. They not only embellished the division’s best away record; the only undefeated one. They once again laid down the gauntlet to their challengers.

It was a slow burn contest that had certainly started that way with Castle watching and waiting and trying to figure out Brentford. Thomas Frank’s team was difficult to classify in terms of a set formation, lots of changing parts. Bryan Mbeumo had the license to roam from the right wing. Mikkel Damsgaard embraced his no. 10 role.

Brentford tried to work the give-and-go; they made quick switches, some of them to isolate Mbeumo against Kostas Tsimikas, who Slot started at left-back ahead of Andy Robertson.

Brentford had flickers. Damsgaard could not react early to knock home a deflected Mads Roerslev cross; was Roerslev offside? Christian Norgaard sent a header wide from a free kick from Mbeumo.

It was Liverpool who enjoyed the bigger chances. Slowly but surely they worked their patterns, stretching Brentford out and gaining control. Their most striking moment of the first period came on 35 minutes when Dominik Szoboszlai took a touch, looked up from 25 yards and thought: why not? The technique on the right foot drive was sumptuous. The shot whizzed past Mark Flekken and rattled the crossbar.

Liverpool had their regrets. Szoboszlai had begun to enter dangerous areas. Twice he had raised his pulse only to miss the finish, the second after a frantic dribble through a crowd of Brentford defenders.

It felt like Liverpool were going to open the game before the break, especially when Cody Gakpo sparked a quick transition and didn’t stop to admire the crossfield pass. Szoboszlai found Mohamed Salah, who crossed back for Gakpo, but his final act was neither a thick finish nor a pass, the ball slipping wide of the far post.

Earlier, Luis Díaz, playing as a false nine, was unable to clear a slightly awkward header from Ibrahima Konaté’s floating cross; Díaz’s contact was off his shoulder. He seemed to lose his bearings. Ryan Gravenberch had also worked with Flekken from a distance.

Castle had to suffer how it unfolded. The size had worked and Liverpool came to keep the game in their grasp. They pushed on the front foot. All-out attacking Brentford was all about keeping their defensive shape.

Liverpool continued to threaten after the restart in the second half, driving in the transitions and looking to play in those runners on the overlap. They just wanted something clear. It was about staying patient as the tension crackled.

Díaz saw a low shot deflected away by Flekken, and after Slot replaced the striker with Núñez, the stage felt set. When another substitute, Robertson, bent over a cross, the chance was there. Núñez’s header was off target. There would also be the moment when he grabbed horribly after an effort from outside the area.

After Alexis Mac Allister headed into the side netting, the game became a bit more stretched, or at least it wasn’t quite Brentford’s defense versus Liverpool’s attack. Brentford had a few moments, mainly Mbeumo-inspired. Yoane Wissa would trouble Alisson at the goalkeeper’s near post.

Liverpool kept pressing, they kept shooting. Alexander-Arnold whizzed one past the post. Salah did the same. Núñez would tear through the frustration.