Brentford arrive at Anfield with more than just pride to play for, which means Liverpool can’t treat Sunday as a simple farewell occasion.
Mo Salah and Andy Robertson will rightly dominate the emotion around our final Premier League game of the season, but Arne Slot’s side still need to make sure Champions League football is secured before anything else.
The added complication is that Brentford could still qualify for Europe depending on results elsewhere, so Keith Andrews’ team won’t be coming to Merseyside to simply make up the numbers.
Speaking via brentfordfc.com before the trip to Anfield, Andrews gave a positive update on the mood around his squad and confirmed there are no fresh availability concerns.
He said: “The players are in a good place. We had the awards last night – it was nice to get together.
“We’ve had a good couple of weeks. The season is coming to a close. Injury-wise it’s the same as last week, in terms of availability.”
That means full-back Rico Henry won’t feature against Liverpool, while former Red Fabio Carvalho and Antoni Milambo also remain sidelined because of ACL injuries.
From a Liverpool point of view, that’s useful clarity, but it doesn’t change the fact that Brentford still have enough attacking quality to cause problems if we allow the game to become open.
Andrews also suggested Brentford could be flexible in how they approach the game, especially with European football still potentially on the line.
The Bees head coach said: “It’s a little bit about our players and where they’re at: physically, form, opposition.
“We’re willing to be a little bit unpredictable with how we attack at times.”
He then referenced using Dango Ouattara closer to Igor Thiago against Crystal Palace, while also trying to get Mikkel Damsgaard and Mathias Jensen into better attacking positions.
Andrews finished: “There’s always a little bit of method in the madness, I suppose.”
Liverpool have our own fitness boost, with Slot confirming Alisson Becker and Alexander Isak were set to return to parts of training before this game.
That matters because, as the Dutchman has already admitted, Champions League qualification will affect our summer plans.
The emotion can come later; first we need the job done.
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