Liverpool need Nunez brace in injury time to down Brentford

Liverpool defeated Brentford 2-0 in stoppage time to move into first place in the Premier League on Saturday.

Arsenal, who finished second, will defeat Aston Villa later to close the four-point gap with Liverpool.

After starting as a substitute in the 65th minute, Nunez was derided by Brentford’s fans, but the Uruguay international responded with a cross headed home from Trent Alexander-Arnold in the first minute of added time.

After a two-minute counterattack, Nunez completed the match for Liverpool, which faced Manchester United and Nottingham Forest in the first leg of the English League Cup semifinals, either side of a defeat to Tottenham.

Liverpool has still lost only one league game all season, at home to Forest in September. The Reds scored on their final two shots against Brentford, which totaled 37.

With a hat-trick in the league, Justin Kluivert’s nine-game winning run in all competitions abruptly came to an end.

The Dutch midfielder netted in the sixth, 44th and second-half stoppage time at St James ‘ Park. In the sixth minute of added time, Milos Kerkez added the fourth goal. Bruno Guimaraes equalised for fourth-placed Newcastle.

Kluivert, whose father is former Netherlands striker Patrick Kluivert, also scored three goals against Wolverhampton&nbsp, in November. In that match, all of Kluivert’s goals were penalties, but he scored from open play each time against Newcastle.

In its bid to reclaim the Champions League, Newcastle won six straight victories in the league, lifting the Saudi-controlled club to the top four.

Alexander Isak, a Newcastle striker, has already netted eight league goals in a row. That left him three games behind Leicester’s Jamie Vardy’s record for the Premier League’s longest scoring streak in franchise history.

Despite suffering from a long list of injuries, Bournemouth prevailed over Newcastle. The South Coast team climbed to sixth place, tied for points with fifth-placed Chelsea, and extended its unbeaten streak to 11 games. A fifth-place finish could be the first step toward a Champions League spot next year. “Why not dream big”? Kluivert posed. We never know where we might end up.

Next-to-last Leicester lost a seventh straight game in the league, 2-0 to Fulham, to pile the pressure on recently hired manager Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Only one of Van Nistelrooy’s nine league games, including the one against West Ham on December 3, have been won. For Fulham, Miles Smith Rowe and Adama Traore scored.