Who: Brentford vs Liverpool
What: English Premier League
Where: Gtech Community Stadium, London, United Kingdom
When: 3pm (15:00 GMT) on Saturday
Follow Al Jazeera’s live build-up followed by our text and photo stream of the match.
Arne Slot says the second half of the season will be even tougher than the first as he targets a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title for Liverpool in his first campaign at Anfield.
The Reds, who travel to Brentford on Saturday, have been the outstanding team in England and Europe this season, losing just two of their 31 games in all competitions.
Slot’s side are four points clear of second-placed Arsenal in the Premier League with a game in hand while their London hosts, who drew 2-2 with Manchester City this week, have the joint highest number of home wins in the league this season – equal to Arsenal and Liverpool on seven.
“This season, maybe more than every other season, shows the strength of every single team that’s in the league,” Slot said at a pre-match news conference on Friday.
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“Even yesterday evening, I think it was quite a surprise to see Southampton going toe-to-toe with [Manchester] United,” Slot added in reference to the Red Devils’ recovery from a goal down to beat the Saints 3-1 at Old Trafford.
“It shows you that in the second half of the season that it’s even harder to win your games than in the first half of the season,” Slot continued. “Teams are longer together. Managers are working longer with the team. You’ve played already once against each other, so maybe there’s a different game plan. Some teams bring players in to strengthen the squad, and teams are fighting for getting into Europe, winning the league, trying to stay in the league.”
Brentford were the opposition in Slot’s first home league game in August – a match Liverpool won 2-0.
“I already thought, ‘If this is going to be the resistance we get every week, then this is a more difficult league than the Eredivisie,’ which I knew before I came, but it was proven that day as well,” he said.
The Dutchman said Liverpool, who have drawn their past two games, were not obsessing over the Premier League table “every second of the day”.
Diogo Jota is a doubt to face Brentford after reporting discomfort following his goal-scoring cameo performance against Nottingham Forest in a 1-1 draw midweek.
Slot played down suggestions that another forward, Darwin Nunez, was struggling with confidence.
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The Uruguayan, who is not often a starter, has scored just four goals in 26 appearances in all competitions this season.
“For me, it’s the life of a striker. Sometimes you score. Sometimes you don’t,” Slot said. “And he hasn’t started every single game.
“The most important thing for me is that we as a team were able to score in every single game except for the Tottenham one [in the League Cup] and [Nottingham Forest earlier in the season].
“So it tells me that we have so many goals in our team. Darwin will score his goals, like he did for this club already, and he will keep doing this. But I don’t see him struggling that much.”
Brentford team news
Rico Henry and Ben Mee are both in line for a start after returning to the bench for the Bees’ match with Manchester City on Tuesday. Henry was introduced as a late substitute in the 2-2 draw. The Londoners have no other new injury concerns.
Liverpool team news
Jota is the main focus for Liverpool before the match. Nunez returns from a one-match ban while Luis Diaz is expected to be fit despite missing training on Thursday due to illness.
Brentford’s last win against Liverpool came two years ago and was their first against the Reds since 1938. The Reds have since won the most recent four encounters and have scored 17 goals in all seven encounters between the sides since the English top flight was reformed as the Premier League. The Bees have failed to find the net in four of those match-ups.
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