For 90 minutes Liverpool huffed and puffed.

And just as it looked like the leaders would draw a third straight 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 ’s low cross in the first minute of added time to grab a win that they came desperately close to frittering away.

It was ’s 36th shot of an afternoon where they dominated without ever looking totally convincing.

That Nunez found the net again 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.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Against a Brentford team that have one of the country’s best home records but had not kept a clean sheet on their own patch since last season, ’s men were really wasteful.

And it almost looked to have cost them victory at the end of a week where those desperate for a close title race were pointing to cracks in their foundations.

Indeed the most nervy moment for Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken in the opening half hour was when Nathan Collins sent a loose return pass back that had the goalkeeper hurrying to control.

Not that Alisson Becker was up the walls either.

He twice smothered attempts from Bryan Mbeumo, whom Brentford sought to isolate up against Kostas Tsimikas at every opportunity.

Tsimikas, starting at left back instead of Andy Robertson, had been booked in the seventh minute for a cynical pull on Mbeumo’s shirt to halt a break.

And that served to ramp up the hosts’ interest in targeting him, with Mbeumo receiving a series of diagonal passes.

Mikkel Damsgaard was close to a tap-in and Christian Norgaard headed over too in a promising opening from Frank’s side.

Yet Liverpool began turning the screw from half an hour in and by the interval nineoutfield players, with Tsimikas the exception, tried their luck.

Among the highlights Trent Alexander-Arnold sent flashed a cross perilously across Flekken’s six-yard box before Dominik Szoboszlai rattled the crossbar with the Bees stopper beaten.

should really have put them in front when fed by only to send a little prod past Flekken but narrowly wide.

And Szoboszlai watched a pair of long-range efforts blocked with Ibrahima Konate registering three different attempts from set pieces by the interval.

Slot’s men emerged from the break with another wave of pressure.

Szoboszlai looked to the skies when he was blocked again and Luis Diaz was not too far away when set up by Salah.

Mbeumo remained Brentford’s sole outlet, twice receiving the ball on the halfway line before being halted by Ibrahima Konate.

But it was thereafter one-way traffic.

Flekken parried a low drive from Diaz and the forward was lucky not to be booked for diving when attempting to win a penalty after chasing the rebound.

Nunez was then sprung from the bench in Diaz’s place and he was soon rising high to head an Andy Roberston centre wide.

Brentford earned brief respite with a first shot on target for 52 minutes as Mbeumo fired straight at Alisson.

But Liverpool’s dominance resumed with Alexander-Arnold and Salah a whisker away from sneaking the ball in at Flekken’s bottom right corner.

Then came Nunez’s last-gasp double and a sigh of relief from Slot on the sideline.

and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our