Liverpool beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 to go top of the Premier League table
After an international break that seemingly lasted the length of a summer, Liverpool returned to action as they hosted Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield in the Premier League.
Prior to the two-week break, Liverpool’s hopes of winning all four trophies fell flat as they were knocked out of the FA Cup to Manchester United at the quarter-final stage.
Brighton’s manager Roberto De Zerbi has been spoken of as a potential successor to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. These rumours have only amplified since Xabi Alonso confirmed his plans to stay at Bayer Leverkusen ahead of next season.
With Alisson still sidelined with injury, Klopp’s reliable no.2 Caoimhin Kelleher maintained his spot in the starting eleven. The Reds are also still without their starting full-backs, with Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez filling in at right-back and left-back respectively.
A win would take Liverpool top of the Premier League table, if only for a few hours before Manchester City hosted Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.
Ahead of this fixture, Liverpool hadn’t beaten Brighton at Anfield since the 2019-20 season. And it was the worst possible start for Klopp at Anfield. Just 86 seconds into the match and the visitors took the lead through a fantastic goal by Danny Welbeck.
The response from the Reds was magnificent, with Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai running the show in the first half from midfield. Mohamed Salah had chances o’plenty as well, but couldn’t find the back of the net in the opening 45.
It would be Luis Diaz to equalise for the hosts midway through the first half after he athletically scored 12 yards out from a Brighton deflection. It was the Colombian’s first goal since netting in Liverpool’s 5-1 win at Sparta Prague.
The score remained level heading into the break, with Liverpool well on top but failing to take their chances to lead.
The Reds’ talisman Salah gave Liverpool the lead 65 minutes in after superb team play from Szoboszlai and Mac Allister to play the Egyptian through on goal. As it stood, Klopp’s team were heading three points clear at the top.
Luis Diaz thought he grabbed himself his second of the game, only to be denied by the initial offside flag from the linesman, which was confirmed by VAR by the tightest of margins.
For the final ten minutes plus stoppage time, Anfield could barely watch. A nervy ending, which eventually earned Liverpool their first win over Brighton & Hove Albion at home since November 2019.
The last time they beat Brighton at Anfield, the score was also 2-1. Liverpool also went on to win the Premier League.
Manchester City and Arsenal’s goalless bore-fest ensured the Reds’ position as league leaders remained for the end of this match-week. There are just nine games to go now until we find out which of the three lift the title.
The next challenge for the Reds is a home fixture against bottom-of-the-league Sheffield United, who earned themselves a point against Fulham at the weekend.
Kick-off for that game is at 7.30pm on Thursday, 4 April.
Liverpool team: Kelleher, Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Robertson, Mac Allister, Endo, Szoboszlai (Gravenberch 90+4), Salah, Nunez (Elliott 83), Diaz (Gakpo 89).
Brighton & Hove Albion team: Verbruggen, Veltman, Dunk, Van Hecke, Lamptey (Buonanotte 70), Baleba, Gross, Estupinan (Barco 90+2), Adringa (Ferguson 83), Moder (Lallana 83), Welbeck.
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