Brentford suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season as Liverpool came from behind to win 2-1 at Gtech Community Stadium.
Keane Lewis-Potter headed the Bees in front just before the break, but Yehor Yarmoliuk’s dismissal for violent conduct deep into first-half stoppage-time left the hosts with 10 men. Victor Muñoz equalised on 62 minutes before Alexander Isak struck the winner eight minutes later.
The west Londoners ended the game with nine players after Vitaly Janelt was shown a second yellow card late on.
Head coach Keith Andrews made three changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Aston Villa the previous weekend.
Centre-back Sepp van den Berg made his first appearance of the season, with Mathias Jensen and Dango Ouattara returning to the starting XI after substitute appearances at Villa Park.
El Hadji Malick Diouf and Kevin Schade dropped to the bench, while Jannik Schuster missed out through injury.
The Bees started brightly, putting Liverpool under pressure with two early corners.
At the other end, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister both fired over from distance.
The sides then traded chances in quick succession. Michael Kayode combined with Ouattara down the right before his well-struck effort was deflected wide by Jérémy Jacquet, with Alisson moving in the opposite direction.
Less than a minute later, Janelt tried to cushion a header into Yarmoliuk’s path, but Bradley Barcola stole possession and raced through on goal. The Frenchman lifted the ball over Caoimhín Kelleher, but his effort bounced wide of the post.
Brentford put together a brilliant move midway through the half. Jaidon Anthony took Kelleher’s pass on the turn and released Ouattara down the right. The winger got his head up quickly and picked out Igor Thiago with a low cross, but Jacquet’s last-ditch intervention prevented the striker from getting a clean shot away.
Kristoffer Ajer nodded Jensen’s deep free-kick back across goal and into the six-yard box, where Thiago won his battle with Jacquet but headed over.
Barcola was teed up by Florian Wirtz on the edge of the box and took a touch to set himself before curling over the bar.
When Isak pulled the ball back from the byline, Ouattara produced a superb sliding challenge to take it away from the arriving Mac Allister. Referee John Brooks pointed to the spot, but his initial decision was correctly overturned following a VAR review.
Brentford took the lead on 44 minutes, with the usual roles reversed as Thiago supplied the cross and Lewis-Potter provided the finish. The striker received a pass from van den Berg and lifted the ball into the centre of the box, where Lewis-Potter timed his run perfectly to head beyond Alisson.
Then came another major VAR intervention deep into first-half stoppage-time. Yarmoliuk tussled with Jacquet as they waited for a corner to be delivered. Following a VAR review, Brooks judged that the midfielder had moved his head towards the Liverpool defender and sent him off for violent conduct.
Andrews reshuffled his side at the break in response to Yarmoliuk’s dismissal, bringing on Schade and Mamadou Sangaré for Ouattara and Jensen
Schade quickly showed the threat he could pose on the break, motoring down the left and drawing a foul from Jacquet by the touchline. The Liverpool defender was booked.
Brentford threatened when Kayode’s long throw reached Anthony, who hooked a volley wide.
Mac Allister then skipped past Thiago, cut inside and let fly from outside the box, forcing Kelleher to launch himself to his left and push the ball behind.
Liverpool took the resulting corner short, with Rio Ngumoha lifting a cross to the back post. Virgil van Dijk volleyed down into the turf and wide of the far post.
Liverpool levelled on 62 minutes. Muñoz was slipped in down the right by Wirtz, checked inside and fired a left-footed strike into the bottom corner beyond Kelleher.
The visitors completed the turnaround on 70 minutes. Barcola nodded down Mac Allister’s cross for Isak, who took a touch before driving home from close range.
Brentford heads did not drop. Sangaré’s through ball released Anthony and his low cross found Thiago, but under pressure from van Dijk, the striker could not turn the ball towards goal.
Liverpool went close to a third when Kelleher punched away a near-post corner and the ball dropped to Barcola, whose curling effort struck the crossbar.
Janelt was shown a second yellow card in stoppage-time for bringing down Ngumoha on the edge of the box, leaving Brentford to finish the game with nine men.
Brentford (4-3-3): Kelleher; Kayode, Ajer, van den Berg (Hickey 71), Lewis-Potter (Diouf 77); Janelt (red card 90+2), Yarmoliuk (red card 45+8), Jensen (Sangaré HT); Ouattara (Schade HT), Thiago, Anthony (Damsgaard 77)
Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Collins, Carvalho, Wilson
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Araujo (Frimpong HT, Ngumoha 52), Jacquet, van Dijk, Kerkez; Szoboszlai (Nyoni 32), Mac Allister; Muñoz (Gomez 79), Wirtz, Barcola; Isak (Koumas 79)
Subs not used: Mamardashvili, Endo, Gakpo, Tsimikas
Attendance: 17,232
Andrews on Liverpool defeat
Reaction: Keith Andrews post-Liverpool
Keith Andrews shared his thoughts after his Brentford side fell to their first defeat of the season.
“There was a lot in the game,” said the Bees' head coach.
“I thought we started the game pretty well. They tried to nullify what we were doing, but we gained a little bit more belief and rhythm in our play, and we started to get control of the game and obviously got a goal up.
“The sending off obviously changes the dynamic of the game. We knew we would have to make changes in the second half and slightly change the shape, looking for a bit of pace on transition.
“Overall, the performance - again - fills you with immense pride because right until the end, we continued to throw punches.”
Van den Berg: One game doesn’t define us
Reaction: Sepp van den Berg post-Liverpool
Sepp van den Berg reflected on a challenging afternoon as he made his first appearance of the season against his former club.
“It was tough,” said the defender. “First half, we struggled a bit playing out. We should have done that a bit better, but we still created some chances and got the one-goal lead.
“With 10 men it was always going to be hard. It was tough, but we made it a bit too easy. We conceded two goals and then started playing out a bit more. We created chances even with 10.”
Despite the defeat, van den Berg stressed the importance of keeping Brentford’s strong start in perspective.
“We’ve had a great season so far and one game doesn’t define us,” he added. “There are plenty of positives to take into next week.”