Brentford vs Liverpool: Premier League – teams, start, lineups

Who: Brentford vs Liverpool
What: English Premier League
Where: Brentford Community Stadium in London, United Kingdom
When: Saturday at 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 5pm (16:00 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.

Liverpool halted their four-match losing streak by coming from behind to win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday, but the Premier League champions’ defence of their title is likely to be heavily tested once again at Brentford.

What is the latest on Liverpool striker Isak?

Alexander Isak’s underwhelming start to his Liverpool career hit another bump when he sustained a groin injury in the Champions League win in Frankfurt.

The Sweden striker, signed from Newcastle for a British record fee of 125 million pounds ($170m) at the end of the summer transfer window, was withdrawn at halftime of the 5-1 victory.

It was the second injury on the night for Liverpool after right back Jeremie Frimpong came off midway through the first half because of a hamstring problem.

Isak has been building up his match sharpness in the last few weeks after training away from the main Newcastle squad in preseason while agitating for the move to Liverpool. He has scored just one goal in eight games in all competitions for his new club.

Slot said last week that only now could Isak be fairly judged, given the player’s turbulent preseason.

“Let’s hope it’s not that bad, but he had to go off because he felt his groin,” the Liverpool manager said. “Many people wanted me to play him more and we had to find the balance, and unfortunately today, that balance didn’t work out for us perfectly. But let’s hope for the best.”

Slot spoke about the difficulty in managing Isak’s playing time over the past month and said the fact the striker played twice for Sweden in the recent international window strengthened the belief he was ready to string together starts.

“When he came to the club, he had hardly trained,” the Dutchman said. “So you bring him step by step forward, and then you feel there must be a moment where he can play twice a week, and the first time we try – he did it with Sweden as well – he has to go off.

“Normally, you try to prepare players for once-a-week football, but if you are Liverpool, you play every three days or normally three times in eight days, but we’ve been unfortunate this season. We have to play three times in seven days.

“We’ve tried to prepare him for that. We were really careful, and he was perfectly fit when he came back from the national team before the [Manchester] United game on Sunday. We thought he was well prepared for that, but the margins at the top are small.”

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Could Isak’s injury help Liverpool?

The loss of the Premier League’s most expensive player could actually help Slot stumble upon the right formula to turn around Liverpool’s fortunes.

The Sweden attacker’s only goal since his move from Newcastle came against second-tier Southampton in the League Cup.

Isak was replaced at half-time during Wednesday’s 5-1 Champions League win at Eintracht Frankfurt.

With Hugo Ekitike restored as the centre forward and Florian Wirtz able to operate in his preferred role behind the striker, Liverpool suddenly clicked into gear in the second half.

Wirtz, who has been dropped for the last two Premier League games, registered his first two assists since a 100-million-pound ($133m) move from Bayer Leverkusen.

Despite Ekitike’s impressive start, which includes five goals in 11 Liverpool appearances, the Frenchman has not started in any of his side’s three Premier League defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and United.

Isak’s absence should give the 23-year-old the run in the side he craved.

Do Liverpool need to drop Salah in the EPL?

Slot said on Friday that the “last thing” he is worried about is Salah finding his scoring touch again after the Liverpool forward’s barren run for the club extended to six games.

The Egypt international has not scored a Premier League goal from open play since the opening weekend of the season and was dropped from the starting lineup for Liverpool’s midweek win in Frankfurt.

He was also substituted late in Liverpool’s defeat by Manchester United after missing two big chances, even as the home team desperately chased an equaliser.

Slot said he did not know why Salah, who won the Premier League Golden Boot last season, was struggling.

“In general in football, players miss chances, and Mo is a human being as well,” he said at his prematch news conference.

“So we’re not used to him missing chances, let alone a few games in a row, but these things can happen.”

But the manager said he was confident that Salah, who has scored just two Premier League goals in eight matches this season, would rediscover his cutting edge.

“The last thing I worry about is Mo starting to score goals again,” he said.

“Because that’s what he’s done his whole life, and that’s what I expect him to do in the upcoming weeks and months for our club as well.”

Liverpool romped to the Premier League title last season and then splashed out about 450 million pounds ($600m) on new players during the summer transfer window.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure to Real Madrid combined with injuries has resulted in a number of different players being used at right back, including midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai.

Slot admitted his team were taking time to adjust, including 33-year-old Salah, who plays on the right of Liverpool’s attack.

“He’s been in promising positions often enough for him to score goals but maybe with Trent even more. I don’t know,” he said.

“But I think in general, for every player, if you have quite a few changes in your squad during the summer, then everyone needs to find new connections again, and that goes normally like this a little bit.

“Mo is not an exception to this.”

Head-to-head

This is only the 24th meeting between the teams with Liverpool claiming victory on 15 occasions and Brentford emerging victorious from four of the encounters.

The Reds have won the last four matches between the sides.

Brentford team news

Aaron Hickey is out with a knee injury while Antoni Milambo remains sidelined due to an ACL problem. Josh Dasilva recently rejoined the club but will also miss out with a knee problem.

Liverpool team news

Jeremie Frimpong and goalkeeper Alisson Becker are out of the Brentford match with hamstring injuries while Slot is awaiting updates on Isak and midfielder Ryan Gravenberch.