Liverpool fought back to see off nine-man Brentford to record a much-needed Premier League victory at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

The Bees have had a brilliant start to the season and are always difficult opponents, and were proving to be once again after Keane Lewis-Potter nodded home in the first-half. But a red card for Yehor Yarmolyuk really changed the game, with Liverpool able to roar back in the second-half.

Victor Munoz brought the Reds level before Alexander Isak won it with a clinical snapshot, handing Andoni Iraola back-to-back away wins in the Premier League. It wasn’t always pretty, but here’s how we rated the players on a good afternoon for Liverpool.

Defence

Alisson Becker: 5 – Didn’t look completely convincing throughout the game when coming for high balls into the box, opting to punch a couple he could have caught.

Ronald Araujo: 5 – Had a steady game before being taken off for Jeremie Frimpong to give Liverpool more thrust after Brentford went down to 10 men.

Jeremy Jacquet: 5 – Was involved in the game’s key incident as Yehor Yarmolyuk was somehow baited into throwing his head towards the Frenchman. Otherwise had another decent game, but marred by a sloppy yellow card and some slightly loose play on the ball.

Virgil van Dijk: 6 – Van Dijk has had trouble against Brentford plenty of times before, but this was a much more composed display from the Dutchman who didn’t do much wrong.

Milos Kerkez: 3 – Put under pressure by a really good Kostas Tsimikas performance in midweek and did nothing to suggest he is still undisputed first-choice here. Consistently made slow decisions defensively and was appalling on the ball.

Midfield

Alexis Mac Allister: 7 – Showed up with another strong performance even at 11v11. Deserves credit for creating Isak’s goal with a quality deep ball to Bradley Barcola at the back post.

Dominik Szoboszlai: 4 – Started fairly well after the surprise of seeing him in the starting XI. Blasted one shot well high and wide before being taken off with a fresh injury after half an hour. Should never have started.

Florian Wirtz: 7 – Quietly built on his good performance in midweek by taking more control than we’ve often seen him do. Got a good assist for a slided ball down the line for Victor Munoz and was generally very effective in keeping Liverpool moving forward.

Attack

Victor Munoz: 8 (Man of the Match) – Started as Liverpool’s brightest player once again and was a constant thorn in Brentford’s side. Moved to right-back but continued to get forward, doing brilliantly to outpace Keane Lewis-Potter, cut inside onto his left foot and sweep it past Caoimhin Kelleher. When others seemed to fade a bit against the physical approach of the Bees, Munoz absolutely stepped up. Without the Spaniard’s tenacity, Liverpool do not win this game.

Alexander Isak: 7 – Could not get involved at all for 69 minutes and then pounced sensationally on Barcola’s knock down and flashed the ball home to win the game for Liverpool. Exactly what he’s there to do and that’s two winners in Isak’s last two Reds’ appearances.

Bradley Barcola: 4 – Cannot be missing the chance he put wide on 20 minutes. Did well to burst through but the dinked finish wide of the post was dreadful. Missed another presentable chance 15 minutes later after bending over when unchallenged on the edge of the box. Got better in the second-half, and eventually got an assist, nodding down cleverly for Isak to score. Then hit the bar with a really clever effort which beat Kelleher all ends up. Still had time to waste TWO brilliant counter-attacks to kill the game late on. A strange performance for Barcola who should really have got on the scoresheet.

Substitutes

Trey Nyoni: 5 – Really should have started the game, but came on anyway after 30 minutes. Had he been on from the start he may have been switched on enough to track Lewis-Potter as the Brentford man nodded home.

Jeremie Frimpong: N/A – Came on and off again after five minutes with an injury. Disaster for the Dutchman.

Rio Ngumoha: 7 – Should possibly have started after his good performance against LASK, but was the perfect player for Liverpool to bring on in the second-half. Looked comfortable again on the right where he is becoming brilliant at beating his man and standing balls up to the back post.

Joe Gomez: 6 – Was the obvious choice for Iraola to turn to as his fourth right-back of the game. Did well to shore things up.

Lewis Koumas: N/A – Ran hard as ever but no real time to rack up a rating.