Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images

A look back at the key moments from Liverpool’s second narrow victory over Brighton this week.

Liverpool 2 - 1 Brighton

Liverpool: Gakpo 69’, Salah 71’
Brighton: Kadioglu 14’

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Pre-Match

No real surprises in the line-up for Liverpool, but lots of changes from their last game against Brighton in midweek. Hopefully this match will be a more comfortable affair than their League Cup match, though in the end, as long as it’s the same result, I’m fine.

First Half

The game at Anfield started off a bit slow as both teams worked their way into a rhythm. It wasn’t until the 10th minute, when Darwin Núñez engineered a fantastic chance for himself, gliding through the midfield and clearing a space for a shot to the far post. Unfortunately, the goalkeeper leapt and palmed it out for a corner. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s resulting corner didn’t make it past the first man and the opportunity went begging.

The Reds were made to rue that miss a few minutes later when Brighton’s Ferdi Kadioglu found the back of the goal with his own incredible effort before we’d reached the quarter-hour mark.

Adding insult to injury, a collision between Virgil van Dijk and Kostas Tsimikas caused the left-back to need treatment. Though Andy Robertson began warming up, the Greek captain could continue playing.

Kelleher made a great save to deny a second Brighton goal in the 25th minute. After that, it was Liverpool with the momentum, forcing several corners. One ended in a melee in the box, with several Liverpool players scrambling to get a foot on Tsimikas’ excellently delivered ball. However, they couldn’t quite get what they needed on it. They looked like they were building up steam for an equalizer in the last 15 minutes of the first half.

Ibrahima Konaté got injured at the end of the first half. He left the pitch clutching his arm. Joe Gomez will likely come in for the second half.

Despite a good few minutes or so, the Reds looks lackluster in possession and slow in defense. Hopefully the halftime break will do them good.

Second Half

Second half began and indeed Gomez was next to van Dijk in the defense. The Reds were attacking towards the Kop, and they looked much more up for it following the break.

They came out with a sense of urgency to get something out of this game. Brighton, on the other hand, are clock-watching, trying to slow the match down at every opportunity. The Liverpool fans in the crowd are not happy about it, but you can’t argue the logic.

Cody Gakpo nearly snuck one in the top corner, but the ball whizzed over the bar. That’s the closest they’d gotten since Núñez’s slick run in the first half.

Curtis Jones and Luiz Diaz came on for Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in the 65th minute to shake up the offense, which has struggled this afternoon.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that it was Gakpo who finally evened the score in the 69th minute. It’s his third goal against Brighton this week, and it might be the best of the lot for its audacity. The floated cross into the box soared towards Núñez and confused the defenders enough that when Núñez ducked, the ball sailed right into the goal.

And it was only two minutes later when Mohamed Salah, who had been relatively quiet in this game, came alive. On the break, Jones got the ball to the Egyptian’s feet. He ran along the wing, cut in and managed to get the ball onto that dangerous left foot. The resulting shot was a typical Salah stunner to give Liverpool the lead.

At 74 minutes, the very hard-working Núñez got subbed out for Wataru Endō to finish off the match.

A bit of late drama saw Brighton work through a corner in the dying minutes of normal time. Van Dijk managed to get a head on it and spoil the chance.

Conor Bradley came on for game-winner Salah at 90 minutes to help the team see out the last four minutes of added time.

Final Thoughts

It was hard, but Liverpool pulled out a victory on a day that saw defeats for both Arsenal and Manchester City. A quarter of the season is through, and the good guys are back on top of the Premier League table for another week.