Liverpool 2-0 Brentford: Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz goals hand Arne Slot perfect Anfield bow | OneFootball

Liverpool one of four teams to win first two Premier League matches this season

Arne Slot enjoyed a successful afternoon in his first Premier League match at Anfield as Liverpool earned a deserved 2-0 win over Brentford.

The hosts were dominant from the start, even if there was a slower pace to their play than often seen under Jurgen Klopp, but there was a familiar feel to the opening goal.

As was seen many times under Klopp, Liverpool were ruthless on the counter, breaking from a Brentford corner as Diogo Jota played in Luis Diaz and the Colombian provided the finish.

It came with 20 minutes remaining, as Diaz slid the ball into Salah’s pass and he curled a trademark finish into the far corner, putting the result beyond doubt.

There could well have been more goals, Alexis Mac Allister’s flicked header hitting the bar and Cody Gakpo doing likewise with a powerful deflected strike from distance, but the three points were comfortably secured.

Liverpool sit alongside Manchester City, Arsenal and Brighton on six points from their first two matches, with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United to come next weekend.

Without Ivan Toney, whose absence only intensifies links of a move to Saudi Arabia in the coming days, Brentford lacked a cutting edge up top although they had their moments and only Salah's goal stopped them in their tracks.

Before the match, Slot emerged from the tunnel smiling before taking a brief seat in the dugout. Thereafter he prowled his technical area as Brentford attempted to spoil the welcome party.

Content to keep men behind the ball, the first time the visitors committed players forward was when they came unstuck as a lightning counter ended with Liverpool going ahead in the 13th minute.

Mathias Jensen's corner was cleared at the near post by Ibrahima Konate before Jota raced away and freed the overlapping Diaz, who bore down on goal and thumped a left-footed shot high into the net.

Salah almost launched another break but was challenged by Kristoffer Ajer, while Flekken was alert at his near post to keep out Andy Robertson's strike after he had exchanged passes with Diaz.

Liverpool almost doubled their lead after half-time, denied only by the face of Brentford shot-stopper Flekken from a header by Robertson, who reacted quickest to Jota's overhead-kick.

Alisson did well to keep out a bullet header from Nathan Collins, who produced a superb last-ditch block at the other end when Jota had been teed up by Trent Alexander-Arnold's pull back on the right.

Liverpool by now were moving up a gear and Alexander-Arnold almost scored directly from a corner, his inswinging effort getting the slightest of touches from Mac Allister against post, while Flekken's excellent reflex save kept out Diaz's low effort.

Fabio Carvalho was introduced in the 66th minute a fortnight on from swapping Merseyside for Brentford, but the ex-Reds forward's first contribution was to give the ball away, leading to Liverpool's second.

Dominik Szoboszlai nipped in to dispossess the Portuguese before Diaz switched to Salah on the right and the Egypt forward effortlessly lifted over the advancing Flekken and into the net.

As the crowd chanted Slot's name and Brentford's charge fizzled out, Reds substitute Cody Gakpo hammered a deflected effort against the bar, with Liverpool ending the match on top.