Liverpool's back-up brigade give belief they will power to glory as substitutes make the difference in last-gasp Brentford victory

He had only played a cameo off the bench but he was saluted like a king by the travelling Kop.

Darwin Nunez had scored a last-gasp goal to put Liverpool in front and in the driving seat to win a 20th English league title.

Except we are not talking of his magic-man antics at Brentford on Saturday but his 99th-minute winner at Nottingham Forest last March.

It propelled the Reds four points clear at the top of the Premier League table and it felt like a season-defining strike. Only it wasn’t. Liverpool faltered in their quest by dropping points in six of their last 11 league games.

In Nunez’s case, not much has changed. He had not made the squad for the previous league game and came into this match under scrutiny.

But the point is Liverpool and Nunez have been here before. And now is the time to seize their opportunity and power on.

For the second game in a week, Arne Slot’s substitutes made an impact after coming off the bench

A draw at Brentford would not have been a disaster, especially as title rivals Arsenal drew in the later game — but it would have twisted the narrative, and a lead of six points could easily have been just two points if the day had played out differently.

It was widely expected that Arne Slot’s team would be in transition this season as the new regime bedded in. Top four felt like the realistic target in August — but now the goalposts have moved and anything but the title would be a big disappointment.

There are factors heavily in their favour this time. Arsenal are not the beast they were in the last two seasons and are struggling for winning consistency while, more importantly, four-in-a-row champions Manchester City are a shadow of their old selves and will not triumph again.

That is why two draws in a row — very nearly three — was not as catastrophic as some Reds fans thought. Dropping points for a few games on the spin with Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering City on Liverpool’s shoulder, and they would have been left for dead, yet no team is as clinical as the City of old this year.

Saturday’s victory was engineered by Slot’s back-up brigade. Nunez took the headlines but he was supplemented by fellow subs Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa, who both played big roles. With Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz plagued by wastefulness, others stepped up.

For Nunez and Elliott, in particular, those cameos will do them the world of good. Asked by reporters what the Uruguay striker needs to do now, captain Virgil van Dijk joked: ‘Not listen to all of you guys! I’m joking. But I have said to him, “Stay calm because you will play again”. What he did today is what we need him to do — to have an impact and score important, big goals. There will always be an opportunity for him to show himself again and be important for the team.’

Nunez’s future going into this match was firmly in doubt. He had scored just one goal in Liverpool’s last 15 league games and there had been suggestions that he will never live up to his £85million price tag. Saturday’s two goals silence that debate, for a few weeks at least.

‘As team-mates and as friends, we are over the moon for him, he deserves it,’ said Elliott, who also has a point to prove. Elliott is yet to play more than 16 minutes in a league match this season and his assist for Nunez’s second was his first goal involvement.

The 21-year-old stated in pre-season that this was the campaign for him to step up and prove he can be a starter for the Reds, but breaking a foot in September put paid to that.

Other clubs have been keeping tabs on Elliott in the hope of a summer swoop but he added: ‘Liverpool is my club, Liverpool is my team. I want to fight for my place, fight for my position in the team.

‘I am going to do what it takes. It’s down to me to put in the effort, the hard work, the desire to make that achievement. I am not going to give up, I am going to keep fighting.’

Nunez and Elliott showed on Saturday what they can offer in the title run-in — and both are scrapping for their Liverpool futures. Chiesa, on the other hand, proved he can be trusted to change games and his direct running caused Brentford problems.

All three were greeted like heroes in the away dressing room as the squad cranked up the tunes and toasted a defining win. Take each game as it comes and all that, but if you cannot celebrate victories like this, then something is wrong.