A 3-0 victory was all that it required for Liverpool to get all three points against Brentford, returning to winning ways as they closed the gap with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League standings.
Fabinho opened the scoring before halftime. As a second was added by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain after the hour mark, then Takumi Minamino sealed the victory in the final quarter of an hour.
Missing his two biggest stars in Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane due to the AFCON, Jurgen Klopp made just two changes from his team that played a barren draw against 10-men Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, bringing in Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain into the set up.
Thomas Frank was afforded just one tweak as Sergio Canos was replaced by Rico Henry at left wing-back.
Liverpool created chances early on. Oxlade Chamberlain forced Alvaro Fernandez to a save from an offside position before Trent Alexander Arnold's effort went inches off goal.
Virgil van Dijk came closest to scoring when he controlled a corner and drilled a powerful left-footed effort into the bottom corner, thanks to Fernandez, Brentford remained level.
The Reds almost dug their own grave when they lost possession right at the edge of their box and Ivan Toney tried his luck from range, which went narrowly wide. He then was at the end of a Brentford counter when he cut the final ball back to Vitaly Janelt, whose effort was saved last minute by Andy Robertson.
With about 60 seconds to the interval, the home side took the lead. An in-swinging corner from the left by Alexander Arnold was met at the far post by Fabinho, who peeled off his marker to head into the bottom corner.
After the restart, Bryan Mbeumo missed an opportunity from the edge of the Liverpool box to draw his team level, before Fernandez once again had to be on his toes to keep Diogo Jota, who had been played in by Roberto Firmino out.
Two minutes later, there was no denying Chamberlain, who read the cross of Robertson well and got himself behind the Brentford defence to head home from close range.
Brentford went ahead to confirm the three points for the hosts when they tried to play out from the back, but Firmino won the ball of Christian Norgaard and set up Takumi Minamino, who played a one-two with the Brazilian before slotting into an empty net.
Concluding Thoughts
Liverpool did all that was expected of them by ensuring three points were in the bag with an almost easy win over Brentford, who didn't much help themselves.
Despite the absence of Salah and Mane, Liverpool would be glad to get back to winning ways after failing to get a win in their last three league games and have an opportunity of reducing Manchester City's lead at the top to 8 points if they win their outstanding game.
Brentford's struggles to regain their early season form continues as they have managed just one win in their last five league games, losing the other four.
They could be in more trouble even as they currently sit in 14th as teams below them have two or three games outstanding and unfavorable results coming their way could drop them further closer to the relation zone.
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