Liverpool suffered their 10th league defeat and Brighton deservedly won 2-1 after Hugo Ekitike was forced off injured, but their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League were dealt another serious blow.
Manager Arne Slott hailed his team’s “best performance of the season” against Galatasaray on Wednesday, but it was the second-best on the south coast as Danny Welbeck scored twice left and right to set up Milos Kerkes’ genius equaliser.
Liverpool haven’t lost this much in a league game since 2016 and are without a win in their last three games, so the pressure on the slot is increasing. As a result, Liverpool remain in fifth place, two points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa and one point behind Chelsea, who could move above the Reds with tonight’s result against Leeds, as reported by Sky Sports.
Slott was already without injured pair Mo Salah and Alisson at the Amex, but although Ekitike was unable to continue after colliding with former Reds midfielder James Milner within the first five minutes, Liverpool’s head coach believes it is “not enough to keep him out for three months”.
Welbeck soon compounded their problems by taking advantage of Ibrahim Konate’s defensive laxity and heading a shot at the back post after Diego Gomez let the ball fly across the six-yard box.
Liverpool responded, and after Alexis Mac Allister’s header was blocked by Bert Verbruggen, Luis Dunk’s backwards header was brilliantly anticipated by Kerkes, who hit the goalkeeper.
Brighton improved in the second half, but the visitors were unable to match them. Minte played well on the left and his cross was met by Jack Hinshelwood inside the area for Welbeck to score his second goal.
Alisson’s substitute Giorgi Mamadashvili kept Liverpool in the game with saves from Gomez and Welbeck, while Verbruggen denied Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo an equalizer as the visitors suffered another defeat.
More to come…
