Liverpool took advantage of their early kick off to move into a tie for first place in the Premier League, with Mo Salah joining an elite group of players by scoring a hat trick.
Salah struck in each half to become only the fourth player to score in his first six Premier League home matches in a season – behind Alan Shearer, Thierry Henry and Les Ferdinand.
It marked the Egyptian King’s 15th straight league encounter at Anfield with a goal or assist.
When Diogo Jota scored a third goal for Liverpool, the game was effectively over.
Jurgen Klopp responded to Alexis Mac Allilster’s one-match ban by giving summer signing Wataru Endo his first Premier League start at Anfield, despite the difficult wind and rain conditions.
Liverpool’s bench was notably young, with seven players 20 or younger.
After being out since September with a muscle ailment, Brentford started 34-year-old defender Ben Mee.
Early on, Brentford’s back five were placed under intense pressure, but Liverpool managed to hang on thanks to a miraculous miss from Ethan Pinnock.
Darwin Nunez was always in the middle of everything. He got a near-post stop from Mark Flekken and then two goals disallowed for offside.
When Virgil van Dijk’s header was excellently saved by Flekken, he followed it up with an overhead kick when Dominik Szoboszlai’s attempt was deflected. Both times a flag was waved, and Video Assistant Referee reviews confirmed it (the first time by the width of a big toe).
The powerful Liverpools faced only one real threat: themselves. Bryan Mbuemo’s effort might have punished Alexander-Arnold for a poor pass inside his own area, but it sailed over the crossbar.
The attacker then went behind Alexander-Arnold, but Alisson was quick off his line to make the save.
When German defender Joel Matip was penalized for a foul on Christian Norgaard, referee Paul Tierney received boos from The Kop.
Nunez almost scored, but he contributed more as a pass creator.
At the 39-minute mark, he made a deft spin and passed to Salah on the right. The winger’s subsequent precision shot into the bottom corner seemed certain.
While Nunez and Salah had opportunities to score before halftime, the second goal didn’t come until 62 minutes in, just after a VAR review ruled that Endo’s sliding challenge on Norgaard wasn’t an offense.
Kostas Tsimikas crossed from the left flank and Salah scored easily with a header.
The game did not continue until VAR confirmed that the ball had not crossed the goal line in its entirety. Even though it looked like Newcastle had scored a winner against Arsenal not so long ago, the officials concluded that it hadn’t.
Brentford’s dreams of claiming the club’s first victory at Anfield since 1937 were dashed with that result.
Jota scored the third goal at the 75:25 mark; he received a ball from Tsimikas on the left angle of the penalty area, cut inside Frank Onyeka, and then finished with force past Flekken.
Luis Diaz’s first appearance at Anfield since his missing father’s release in Colombia was met with a rousing ovation as he entered the game as a substitute in the 83rd minute. Even in stoppage time, the next generation was represented by 19-year-old James McConnell, who made his Premier League debut.
