Brentford were unbeaten and 1-0 up at half-time, and Yarmoliuk’s red card let Isak win it for Liverpool

Brentford had not lost a Premier League game all season, and for most of the first half against Liverpool they looked like staying that way. Keane Lewis-Potter headed them in front. Then Yehor Yarmoliuk was sent off in first-half stoppage time, and Liverpool came back to win 2-1 at the Gtech Community Stadium with goals from Victor Muñoz and Alexander Isak.

Brentford finished with nine men after Vitaly Janelt’s second yellow in added time. Liverpool move up to fifth on 12 points, two above Keith Andrews’ side, with the rest of the weekend’s games still to play.

The headbutt that changed it

The opener was a good goal. Igor Thiago floated a cross from the right and Lewis-Potter headed it in, on 44 minutes.

The next few minutes decided the game. As Liverpool lined up a corner deep into stoppage time, Yarmoliuk and Jérémy Jacquet came together in the box. VAR sent referee John Brooks to the monitor, and he showed a straight red for what he called a headbutting action. Because the corner had not been taken, there was no penalty.

Andrews accepted the decision, though he thought Liverpool had worked for it. “I do think they were cute, clever – but Yarmo needs to do better, so I can understand why it was a red,” he said.

Liverpool had already had a penalty taken away earlier in the half. Brooks pointed to the spot when Alexis Mac Allister went down under a challenge from Dango Ouattara, and VAR overturned it.

Muñoz, then Isak

Against ten men, Liverpool took a while but got there. Muñoz equalised just after the hour, breaking down the right from a Florian Wirtz pass, cutting onto his left foot and finishing low past Caoimhín Kelleher, the keeper Liverpool sold to Brentford in 2025.

Isak’s winner came on 70 minutes. Mac Allister crossed deep, Bradley Barcola headed it back across, and Isak finished low. It was his first game back after a thigh injury picked up on international duty, and he has now scored in all five of his Premier League games against Brentford.

Liverpool could have had more. Barcola hit the crossbar late on, and Thiago missed the best chance Brentford had to draw level. Janelt’s dismissal, for bringing down the substitute Rio Ngumoha, came in the second minute of added time.

A costly win for Iraola

Andoni Iraola will be glad of the points, but not of the injury list. Dominik Szoboszlai had come back from international duty with a tight hamstring, started anyway, and went off in the first half. Jeremie Frimpong came on at half-time and lasted about seven minutes before he was hurt too, which pushed Muñoz back to right-back until he was replaced. “It will mean we will lose Dom and Jeremie for some time, yes,” Iraola said.

For Brentford it is the first league defeat of the season. Yarmoliuk faces a ban, and with Janelt out as well, Andrews has two midfielders to replace for the next game.

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