🏏 Sat, 17 Oct 2026 15:00 BST
Brentford FC
vs
Liverpool FC
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Fifth-placed Brentford (10 points from six games, 2-4-0, goal difference +6) host ninth-placed Liverpool (nine points, 2-3-1, goal difference 0). The hosts are still unbeaten this season but have drawn four of their six matches, so turning stalemates into wins is the obvious next step. Manchester City have already opened a gap at the top with 18 points from six matches.
- Momentum differs sharply. Brentford's D-D-D-W-D run features a 3-0 home demolition of Chelsea in round five followed by a 2-2 draw away at Aston Villa. Liverpool's D-W-D-W-L includes a 1-0 win away at Bournemouth in round five, then a chastening 0-3 home defeat to Manchester City in round six that leaves them needing a response here.
- Liverpool's numbers hint at a scoring problem. Despite fielding Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola, they have managed only seven goals in six games and conceded seven for a goal difference of zero. Brentford, by contrast, have scored 12 and conceded six, so the hosts arrive with the better balance even if the away side carry more individual star power.
- Three former Liverpool players line up for Brentford. Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, 27, won the Premier League and the Champions League at Anfield and built a reputation for shootout nerve, while 192cm Dutch centre-back Sepp van den Berg, 24, also came through Liverpool before loans at Mainz, Schalke and Preston toughened up his duel work.
- The third reunion is on the bench: Fabio Carvalho, 24, the Fulham academy graduate who spent time at Liverpool and went on loan to RB Leipzig and Hull City. An attacking midfielder who thrives on quick turns in congested areas and threading passes between the lines, he is exactly the kind of option Brentford would turn to if the game becomes a stalemate.
- Japan captain Wataru Endo, 33, is among the Liverpool substitutes. The holding midfielder was crowned the Bundesliga's duel king at Stuttgart and remains an elite ball-winner and interceptor. If Brentford's energetic pairing of Yehor Yarmoliuk and Vitaly Janelt start to dominate the middle, Endo is the natural choice to settle the game down.
- There is a Bournemouth reunion down one flank. Liverpool's left-back is 22-year-old Hungary international Milos Kerkez, formerly of Bournemouth, and directly opposite him is Dango Ouattara, the 24-year-old Burkina Faso winger Brentford signed from the same club for a record fee. Jadon Anthony, who scored 10 goals at Bournemouth, lines up on the other side for the hosts.
- With both sides in a 4-2-3-1, the double pivots will decide control. Brentford pair Vitaly Janelt, the 28-year-old left-footer signed from Bochum for just £500,000 who now has more than 100 Premier League appearances, with 22-year-old Ukraine international Yehor Yarmoliuk, a Dnipro-1 academy product promoted from the B team. Liverpool counter with Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai and 2022 World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister.
- The centre-forward duel pits two big men against each other. Brentford's 191cm Igor Thiago was named UECL Young Player of the Season at Club Brugge and won a Premier League Player of the Month award in 2025-26. Liverpool's 192cm Alexander Isak arrived from Newcastle for a record English transfer fee and combines his frame with unusually sharp close control.
- Both back lines carry serious height. Brentford's 198cm Norway international Kristoffer Ajer, a three-time Scottish champion with Celtic, anchors a defence that has conceded only six goals. Liverpool answer with 35-year-old captain Virgil van Dijk at 195cm, former Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo, 27, and 21-year-old Frenchman Jeremy Jacquet, who joined from Rennes.