Liverpool moved top of the Premier League, at least temporarily, as Jürgen Klopp claimed his 300th competitive victory in charge of the Reds with a keenly-contested 2-1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Anfield has been an impenetrable fortress for Klopp’s side this season, but they faced a Brighton side that has posed them with more than a few problems in recent years. That trend continued in the second minute when Danny Welbeck stunned the Kop with a ferocious first-time strike after the Liverpool defence failed to deal with Simon Adingra’s cross from the left-hand side, marking his 100th PL appearance for the Seagulls in style.
The Reds have been the PL’s comeback kings this season, already recovering 23 points from losing positions heading into this match – more than any other side in the division, and arguably should have had a penalty seconds later.
Pervis Estupiñán was perhaps fortunate not to concede a spot-kick as he wrapped his arm Darwin Núñez in the box, but referee David Coote waved play on following the briefest of VAR reviews. Mohamed Salah has the canny habit of scoring against the Seagulls with eight previous H2H strikes, and came close with three separate chances to restore parity in the opening 20 minutes.
Ultimately, a seemingly inevitable equaliser came in the 27th minute when Joel Veltman inadvertently diverted Salah’s header into the path of Luis Díaz, who instinctively flicked the ball beyond Bart Verbruggen to leave honours even at HT.
Liverpool started in the ascendancy following the interval, with Alexis Mac Alllister glancing a header wide from a Joe Gomez cross, while Salah could not quite make a decent connection to a Diaz delivery moments later.
The Seagulls seemed to have lost their counter-attacking verve, and they were soon behind as Salah scored a second goal for the hosts, and his ninth H2H strike, after latching onto Mac Allister’s pass and curling a finish past Verbruggen into the far corner.
Verbruggen was a mightily relieved man when he allowed a Díaz shot to squirm through his legs, with the Dutchman’s blushes spared by VAR. Caoimhín Kelleher was called into action for the first time in the second half to parry away Lewis Dunk’s header from a Pascal Groß corner, before fumbling at another header by the Seagulls skipper from the subsequent corner.
It was the closest Roberto De Zerbi’s side came to getting on the scoresheet after the break, as Liverpool edged to an important three points, laying down the gauntlet before fellow PL title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal clash at the Etihad Stadium.
