On Saturday, at the Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford led. Then they were ten. Then they lost. Liverpool turned it 1-2. Keane Lewis-Potter, a header, 44. Víctor Muñoz, 62. Alexander Isak, 70. Nine men at the whistle. The Bees’ first Premier League defeat of the season. The Irish Times put it in a round-up. Liverpool FC wrote it minute by minute. That is the score. It is not a title.

Isak was back from injury. Sky: a thigh, two matches missed. The Irish Times: his fifth goal of the season, in a front line with Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola, “£350 million”. That is a press figure. It is not a transfer extract. Andoni Iraola changed six names from the previous outing. Dominik Szoboszlai lasted 32 minutes. Trey Nyoni came on. At the break, Jeremie Frimpong for Ronald Araújo. Seven minutes. Rio Ngumoha.

At 43, John Brooks gave a penalty. Mac Allister, Dango Ouattara. VAR cut it: the ball had been touched. A moment later Thiago lofted it, Lewis-Potter put it in. In first-half stoppage time, Yehor Yarmoliuk, a head action on Jérémy Jacquet, by a corner. VAR again. Red, violent conduct. The match turned there, not at the second goal.

After the break, Wirtz slipped Muñoz down the right. Inside, left foot, bottom corner, beyond Caoimhín Kelleher. Eight minutes. Mac Allister, a cross to the back post, Barcola nodded it down, Isak struck from close. Brentford did not drop. Thiago missed, under Virgil van Dijk. Barcola hit the bar. In stoppage time, Vitaly Janelt, a second yellow, on Ngumoha, at the edge of the box. Nine men. The whistle.

Keith Andrews spoke of pride, not of excuses. A first defeat is not a lost season. Liverpool’s third league win, after City, is a result, not a table. Iraola took the points in the capital with ten, then with nine, in front of him. Without a penalty. With a striker who had sat out two rounds.

Until the table, a 2-1 remains. After the table, the two reds remain. Anyone who mixes them turns a header into a championship.

Image: AndyScott, Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford, 27 October 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The photograph shows the ground, not Isak’s goal on 17 October 2026.

Sources consulted: Premier League round-up: Alexander Isak seals comeback win for Liverpool against nine-man Brentford — The Irish Times; Alexander Isak scores winner to earn Liverpool victory over nine-man Brentford — Liverpool FC.