Liverpool comprehensively beat Brentford away and welcomed back Conor Bradley and Mo Salah from the bench in this feisty early afternoon kick off.
But the medical staff are set for another busy week, with Diogo Jota stretchered off and both Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez taken off with injuries of varying severity.
Curtis Jones landed awkwardly, Diogo Jota had somebody land on him awkwardly and Darwin Nunez, removed at half time, was the more precautionary substitution of the three.
Nonetheless the reds capitalised on Man City dropping two points at home to Chelsea with another three points here.
The opening exchanges saw both sides enjoy solid chances. Kelleher, in for the injured Alisson, saw an Ivan Toney effort dribble wide in the opening 20 minutes. Good work from Darwin Nunez saw a perfect ball sent into the box, but Luis Diaz did not have the acceleration required to get there on time.
It was Nunez who broke the deadlock, given the ball from a Jota header he bore down on the keeper 1 on 1. A deft lob over the keeper and the reds were on their way.
The injuries to Jota and Jones affected the rest of the half as we played out 8 minutes of injury time.
Salah supplied Mac Allister to make it 2-0 before the Egyptian himself made it 3-0 with some skills on show against Nathan Collins, before planting the ball past the keeper.
With 15 minutes remaining Ivan Toney did get himself on the scoresheet to give the home side a faint glimmer of hope but it was extinguished when Gakpo made it 4-1 with mere minutes remaining.
Whilst Chelsea now have a week to prepare for the League Cup final, the reds are in Premier League action midweek at home to Luton. Liverpool fans will be hoping that this week sees the injury list reduce rather than increase.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: Brentford 1-4 LFC
