Liverpool extended their good league form to eight consecutive wins after defeating Brighton 2-0 at the Amex Stadium in Sussex yesterday despite a subpar performance.
The win places Liverpool three points behind league leaders Manchester City and with a game in hand, which will make for a feisty affair when the pair meet in four weeks.
Prior to kick-off players displayed colours in support of both the besieged Ukrainian nation as well as for the ‘No Room for Racism and Discrimination’ campaign, which takes place over the next two weeks.
Luiz Diaz opened the scoring for Liverpool in the 19th minute but sustained a head injury after colliding with the rushing Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez although it wasn’t serious.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson praised Diaz’s commitment as “top class” putting his body and safety on the line, but dodged the question over whether it should have been a red card to the keeper Robert Sanchez, who served a three-game suspension for a similar incident against Newcastle in November.
Henderson told BT Sport coyly: “You know better than me, I don’t know. He is obviously a little bit late, but Luiz has done so well to get there fast and great ball from Joel (Matip).
“An important goal for us at that time in the game [and] another big performance from him and the team to get the three points.”
Slow starting Liverpool survived an early Neal Maupay shot that just went wide.
However, former Liverpool legend Michael Owen said the team’s recent performances won’t bother Jürgen Klopp as long as the team keep winning, insisting Liverpool needs to win when it matters to pile more pressure on the leaders.
Owen said: “If you look at the results, they have won a few games on a spin in the Premier League now.
“When they need to win, it’s a bit like you mentioned three seasons ago in that title race, they bring out the best in each other.
“If Liverpool weren’t on this planet, then City won’t be at the numbers they are getting and vice-versa. We have seen it with great players over the years [like] Messi [and] Ronaldo, they drive each other to levels you wouldn’t expect.”
Yves Bissouma handled the ball in the box which helped Liverpool to extend their lead in the 61st minute when Mohammed Salah calmly dispatched from the penalty spot taking his tally to 20 goals in the league this season.
Klopp said: “It’s not our job to call it like that because it’s always the same [when] City plays… on Monday and you expect them to just win the game.
“As long as we are behind them, we don’t really feel it and the only thing we really feel is, we want to win football games, as many as somehow possible.
“I can see that in the boys’ faces and body language… this race doesn’t need a name for us we just want to win as many football games as possible.”
Both the Brighton and Liverpool goalkeepers had incidents in the game that should, and could, have punished, with Robert Sanchez’s foul on Diaz and Alisson Becker’s handling of the ball outside the box.
Brighton’s Adam Lallana sustained another injury against his former team after a few minutes of coming on in the second half. Liverpool will also be assessing Salah, who exited the game after taking the penalty and then gestured to the box he wasn’t well.
Coming into the game, Brighton had only scored once in five consecutive games, making it a difficult match already against a free-scoring team.
Brighton had a couple of chances in the game, in both the first and second half, however the closest they came to scoring was Danny Welbeck’s shot that was saved by Allison.
Liverpool face an in-form Arsenal at the Emirates on Thursday (AEDT).
Main picture of Mohammed Salah courtesy BT Sport.
