Brentford vs Liverpool Prediction: In-demand Mbeumo to prove he's the right man to replace Salah
It hasn’t been the best start to 2025 for Liverpool.
The Reds have one win in four and that arrived in the FA Cup against Accrington Stanley. They lost 1-0 to Spurs in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final and could only manage draws against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
As things stand, their advantage at the top is down to just four points, albeit with a game in hand.
On Saturday, Arne Slot takes his team to the Gtech Stadium to face Brentford.
The Bees have one of the best home records in the Premier League this season. In fact, only Arsenal (24) have taken more points at home than Thomas Frank’s men (23) and no team can better the 29 home goals scored by Brentford this season.
Key to this form has been Bryan Mbeumo.
The 25-year-old is a player in demand right now. According to reports in France, he’s being chased by Manchester United, Arsenal and Spurs. Newcastle United have previously been linked while it was revealed back in November that Liverpool had been keeping tabs on him as they plan for a post-Mohamed Salah world.
Mbeumo has 13 goals and three assists this term already in just 21 starts. He’s only bettered his 16 goal involvements in the English top-flight on one occasion and that was during the 2022/23 campaign when he scored nine goals and chipped in with eight assists. The France-born Cameroon international is well on course to shatter that current record. It is already his highest scoring season in the Premier League.
He’s stepped up after the departure of Ivan Toney in the summer. And he’s not just a flat-track bully either having scored in big games for the Bees against Spurs, Newcastle, Chelsea and Arsenal.
The former Troyes youngster has a WhoScored rating of 7.45 this term, the highest of his career. He’s also been responsible for 33% of the goals scored by Brentford in the Premier League, highlighting just how important he is to Frank and the side. His exploits have earned him three Player of the Match awards on WhoScored.
So far, this season has been all about him stepping up and taking his game to the next level. Something a lot of people had been waiting to see whether it was possible.
Bryan Mbeumo Next Club Odds
He doesn’t have the best record against the Reds, scoring just once in six appearances. However, it is a perfect opportunity to audition for the league leaders. There’s still uncertainty over Salah’s future. The 32-year-old is out of contract in the summer and there’s been a lot of noise over the past week that he’s heading to the Saudi league.
This coincides with him blanking in his last two outings. A cynic may claim these are the first signs that the contract talks are finally impacting him on the pitch. There’s an argument to be made that tiredness is creeping in having barely missed any football this season due to the unavailability of his understudy, Federico Chiesa.
It’s too early to know for sure. What is indisputable right now, however, is that so far this term, Salah has been in the form of his career, leading the way for goals (18) and assists (13) in the Premier League.
He’s a key reason why Slot’s men lead the way in the title race and why they have the best away record in the Premier League having racked up 24 points on their travels this term, and the Reds are the highest scoring team on the road (28).
The 32-year-old has seven Player of the Match awards on WhoScored. He’s been responsible for 38% of the team’s goals this term and has six goals and an assist in his six outings against Brentford.
If Mbeumo can steal the show on Saturday with Salah on the pitch, a lot more teams are going to sit up and take notice of him as the real deal. Not many are able to outperform Liverpool’s No.11, he’s a relentless output machine.