Brentford heaped further misery on Premier League champions Liverpool with a fully deserved victory at Gtech Community Stadium.

An emphatic midweek triumph at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League ended a sequence of four successive defeats in all competitions for the Reds – but it proved to be a false dawn as the weaknesses that have plagued Arne Slot’s side this season surfaced yet again.

Michael Kayode’s lethal long throw exposed Liverpool’s shaky rearguard in the fifth minute, with Dango Ouatarra scoring from Kristoffer Ajer’s flick-on.

The hosts continued to trouble Liverpool and it was no surprise when they doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, Kevin Schade running on to Mikkel Damsgaard’s magnificent through-ball to sweep past Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Milos Kerkez, who had another nightmare evening in defence, gave Liverpool hope in added time in the first half, but Brentford continued to dominate after the break.

The Bees restored their two-goal advantage on the hour when they awarded a penalty following a video assistant referee (VAR) intervention, which adjudged Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk had fouled Outarra on the line of the penalty area.

Igor Thiago completed the formalities from the spot, and even though Mohamed Salah’s instinctive late finish set up a nervy finale, a fourth successive league loss was confirmed on another bitterly disappointing night for Slot.

Liverpool are in sixth place – four points behind leaders Arsenal, who host Crystal Palace on Sunday – while Brentford are 10th after an impressive fourth win of the campaign.