Liverpool suffered a 10th league defeat and another blow to their Champions League qualification hopes as Brighton deservedly earned a 2-1 victory, in which Hugo Ekitike was forced off with an injury.
Arne Slot praised his side on Wednesday for delivering their “best performance of the season” after hammering Galatasaray, but they were far from replicating the display on the south coast as Danny Welbeck struck twice either side of Milos Kerkez’s equaliser.
The pressure is mounting on Slot with Liverpool having not lost this many league matches in a season since 2016 and are winless in their last three, which has left them in fifth, two points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa and one ahead of Chelsea, who can move above the Reds tonight with a result at Leeds, live on Sky Sports.
Slot was already without injured duo Mo Salah and Alisson at the Amex before Ekitike collided with former Liverpool midfielder James Milner inside the opening five minutes and couldn’t continue.
Welbeck quickly added to their problems, capitalising on some slack defending from Ibrahim Konate and heading in at the back post after Diego Gomez had nodded the ball across the six-yard box.
Liverpool responded as Alexis Mac Allister’s header was kept out by Bart Verbruggen before Lewis Dunk’s backwards header to his goalkeeper was brilliantly anticipated by Kerkez, who finished expertly.
Brighton improved in the second half and the visitors were unable to match them. Minteh was superb on the left and it was his cross that was squared in the area by Jack Hinshelwood for Welbeck to tap in his second.
Giorgi Mamardashvili, standing in for Alisson, kept Liverpool in the game with saves from Gomez and Welbeck while Verbruggen denied Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo from levelling as the visitors slumped to another defeat.
More to follow…
Story of the match in stats
What’s coming up in the Premier League?
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
