Mo Salah fires Liverpool above Arsenal in emphatic win over Brentford - 5 talking points

Liverpool got back to winning ways and moved above Arsenal in emphatic fashion after beating Brentford 3-0 on Sunday.

Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock in the 39th minute to cap Liverpool's early dominance and the Egyptian king of Anfield doubled the Reds' lead in the second half with his 200th goal in English football. Diogo Jota then wrapped up the three points for Jurgen Klopp's side and sent Liverpool second in the Premier League table.

The Reds were looking for their first win since the first day of the month, having only been able to snatch a dramatic 1-1 draw away to Luton last weekend before suffering a controversial 3-2 defeat in the Europa League against Toulouse on Thursday. Brentford, meanwhile, came to Merseyside looking to make it four Premier League wins in a row.

Here are five talking points from Anfield.

1. Nunez's double denial
Given their prosperous run of form, it was no surprise that Brentford had a go in the early stages in search of an surprise opener. That, however, left space for Liverpool to exploit, as Darwin Nunez twice breached the Bees' backline in the first half-hour but was flagged offside.

The first came when Dominik Szoboszlai's effort pinballed in the Brentford box and fell to the Uruguayan striker, who coolly dispatched beyond Mark Flekken. The linesman immediately raised his flag and after a brief VAR check, the decision was proved correct.

Nunez had the ball in the net again six minutes later courtesy of an acrobatic finish after Flekken had made a tremendous save. The 24-year-old could have no complaints with the flag this time and the next chance went Brentford's way on the break, as Bryan Mbeumo was went one-on-one with Alisson Becker but was unable to beat the Brazilian - and he'd soon be punished.2. Salah ends his mini drought
Three games without a goal as a winger is nothing to lose sleep over, but when you're Mohamed Salah, it's a lull. The Egyptian king of Anfield has let others do the scoring in recent weeks but was the man to break the deadlock here.

When centre-back Joel Matip won the ball in Brentford's half, Liverpool sprung into action and the ball found its way to Nunez on the right. His pass found Salah in far too much space for the 31-year-old not to take advantage, as he calmly tucked the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.

Salah made it 16 goals in his last 15 Premier League games at Anfield and became the first player in Liverpool's history to score in the Reds' first six home league games. But he wasn't done there.

3. Endo escapes early bath
Whenever Paul Tierney takes charge of a Liverpool match, there seems to be drama. Jurgen Klopp has admitted publicly that he doesn't think referee Tierney has an agenda against the Reds, although he's had numerous heated exchanges with him.

There'd likely have been another on Sunday if Tierney had chosen to send Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo off, as VAR took a long look at his studs-up sliding challenge on Christian Norgaard. But the team at Stockley Park didn't advise Tierney to review his original decision, for which he had a perfect view, and the Japan international escaped without a booking.

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4. Salah goes 200 up
As Brentford pushed for an equaliser and began to trouble Alisson more frequently, it was up to Salah to step up once again and give Liverpool a precious two-goal lead. Kostas Tsimikas raced behind the Bees' defence and pulled a cross back from the byline which floated towards Salah at the far post.

Brentford defender Ben Mee was busy claiming that the ball had gone out of play as Tsimikas made contact, seemingly oblivious to Liverpool's No.11 lurking behind teammate Mads Roerslev just a few yards away. Salah had a simple header to make it 2-0, marking his 200th goal in English football.

5. Jota's clincher knocks Arsenal down a peg
If the contest wasn't over by the time Salah's second goal nestled in at the Kop End, it was certainly was when Diogo Jota almost took the net off. Tsmikas registered his second assist by laying the ball off to the Portuguese, who rifled in a shot from the edge of the box and took Liverpool into second place and ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.

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