Liverpool vs Brighton Review
Liverpool climbed to sixth place in the Premier League standings after Hugo Ekitike scored twice to secure a well-earned 2-0 win over Brighton, extending the Reds’ unbeaten streak in all competitions to five games (three wins, two draws). Arne Slot’s team got off to a dream start when Ekitike headed a bold pass from Joe Gomez and scored past Bart Verbruggen just 46 seconds into the game. Brighton, undeterred by the early goal, gradually found their rhythm and came close to an immediate reply when Yankuba Minteh’s powerful shot narrowly missed the far post, and Diego Gómez had a close-range attempt saved by Álisson Becker.
An injury to Liverpool’s Gomez led to Salah being brought on to enthusiastic cheers in the 26th minute. The Egyptian almost made an immediate impact when his participation in a counter-attack ended with Ekitike curling a shot wide. As halftime approached, chances kept coming, the best falling to Gómez, whose dangerous shot was blocked by Ibrahima Konaté. The Seagulls posed another threat early in the second half, but Gómez missed a great chance from just a few yards out at the back post. That miss proved costly, as Liverpool doubled their lead on the hour mark when Salah’s inswinging corner was calmly headed in by an unmarked Ekitike, marking his seventh Premier League goal of the season.
Trailing by two goals, Brighton refused to give up easily, with substitute Kaoru Mitoma missing a good opportunity by shooting wide from a promising spot. That was the closest the visitors got to staging a comeback, as a late chance for Ferdi Kadioglu was wasted and Salah failed to capitalize on a chance to seal the game. Despite this, Liverpool held on in the final moments, extending their strong home head-to-head record to just one loss in 12 matches (8 wins, 3 draws).
