Nunez has last laugh

MOCKED SUB DARWIN'S LATE STRIKES SILENCE THE BEES

- Alan Smith

BRENTFORD..........0

LIVERPOOL..........2
NUNEZ 90, 90

FOR 90 minutes Liverpool huffed and puffed.

And just as it looked like the leaders would draw a third straight Premier League game, Darwin Nunez popped up to blow Brentford’s house down.

The maligned striker, mocked by home fans when sprung from the bench with 25 minutes to play, side-footed home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s low cross in the first minute of added time to grab a win that Arne Slot’s men came desperately close to frittering away.

It was Liverpool’s 36th shot of a game they dominated without ever looking totally convincing.

That Nunez found the net again just over a minute later, having been played through by Harvey Elliott, was both cruel on Thomas Frank’s hosts and another sign of the mental fortitude that sees Liverpool maintain a comfortable gap at the summit.