Liverpool beats Brentford 2-0
Liverpool wins 2-0 with two injury time goals by Darwin Núñez to keep Liverpool safely at the top of the Premier League. One of the talking points after the game was that Liverpool set a Premier League record for the most shots ever for an away side, with 37 in total. 37 is clearly a lot of shots, but let's look at them a bit more closely.
Liverpool shots (source FBref.com)
| Type | Number | Percentage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| On target | 8 | 27% | Liverpool average is 37% |
| Off target | 13 | 35% | |
| Blocked | 15 | 41% | No team has blocked more Liverpool shots in a game this season, as a total number or as a percentage of total shots |
| Goals | 2 | 5% | Liverpool's final two shots both found the net |
| Woodwork | 1 | 3% |
It’s not new for Brentford to give up lots of shots this season. But is it safe for them to continue to give up a lot of shots?
Brentford gives up a league leading 18.73 shots against per game with an average of 6.36 shots on target per game, a 9.22% conversion rate, one of the lowest in the league, only bettered by Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Arsenal. Brentford’s average xG per shot against is fourth lowest in the league.
So Brentford regularly gives up lots of low quality shots, with relatively few of them make it through to Mark Flekken. As a team, Brentford is also quite good at blocking shots, blocking an average of 5.68 per game, second best in the league (surprisingly behind only Southampton). Nathan Collins leads the league with 32 blocks, Sepp van den Berg is also in the top ten. Against Liverpool, these were the top shot blockers:
Brentford's top shot blockers (source FBref.com)
| Name | Shots blocked |
|---|---|
| Sepp van den Berg | 5 |
| Nathan Collins | 3 |
| Yoane Wissa | 3 |
| Christian Norgaard | 2 |
This story was published on 18 January 2025. It was written by Dennis Flood. The image at the top of this story was generated using AI.