Match Preview: Brighton looking to rattle Klopp and Liverpool again
Liverpool visiting the Amex was probably one of our favourite Brighton games of the season so far, so what better way to kick off this match preview for the Seagulls’ trip to Anfield than reminding you about it?
The Albion were excellent on a crazy afternoon in which there was VAR controversy, a missed penalty and a scored penalty in the final seconds from Pascal Gross. Either side could have won what was a pulsating encounter.
You know a team has played well against Liverpool when Jurgen Klopp loses his mind. A great manager the German may be, but he is also one of the worst losers in the Premier League who cries his way through post match interviews and blames anything and everything he can think of for his side’s failure to win.
We were treated to a spectacular Klopp whine-fest after Brighton 1-1 Liverpool in which he tried to blame BT Sport for the fixture scheduling which left his side really, really, really tired.
Des Kelly who was carrying out the interview was not having it though and put Klopp firmly in his place. The clubs – such as Klopp’s board of directors – agree to a midday Saturday lunchtime kick off in exchange for millions of pounds in broadcast revenue. Kelly told Klopp that perhaps he should take up the issue with Liverpool’s owners, rather than blaming Sky Sports and BT?
It made for brilliant television. Sadly, it also dominated the post match analysis, meaning that Brighton did not get the credit they deserved for the way they had played.
If Graham Potter can find a way to deliver a first point at Anfield since 1982 this time around, then hopefully it will not be all about Klopp again afterwards.
Liverpool this season
When Liverpool lifted their first top flight title for 30 years back in July, people were genuinely hailing them as the best Premier League champions ever.
The best Premier League champions ever, however, would be sauntering towards a title defence if they were as good as we were told. Klopp’s Redmen can not be considered on a par with any of Manchester United’s back-to-back winners under Sir Alex Ferguson or Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team of 2017-2019 unless they retain their trophy this season.
It had looked like that was going to happen after the opening few months of the season. Liverpool were going well until they hammered Crystal Palace 7-0 at Selhurst Park in mid-December (hehehehe), after which the wheels came off a little.
They failed to win their next five games to slip as low as fourth in the table and have been eliminated from the FA Cup at the hands of rivals Manchester United.
Liverpool’s cause has not been helped by injuries, particularly in defence. Virgil van Dijk became the first player in the history of English football to pick up a long term injury, something which was met with an outpouring of grief not seen since Princess Diana was cruelly taken from us.
Joe Gomez has joined van Dijk on the treatment table and Klopp has also had to make do without Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold at various points, all of which helps to explain why Liverpool find themselves hanging onto the coattails of a rampant City who, ominously for the rest of the league, seem to have rediscovered their mojo.
Recent form
If we were writing this match preview a month ago, then it would have been about an out-of-form Brighton taking on an out-of-form Liverpool. Instead, we find ourselves meeting as two sides who have had a couple of excellent results in the past few weeks.
The Albion have kept three clean sheets in a row in the Premier League for only the second time in their current spell as a top flight club, yielding seven points from their last three matches against The Leeds United, Fulham and Spurs. It feels like something might finally be starting to click for Graham Potter.
Liverpool meanwhile looked to have turned a corner having won 3-1 away at both Spurs and West Ham United in their past two outings. Six goals and six points against two of their rivals for a top four finish is an impressive haul and pleasingly for Klopp, those victories came because the Reds’ talented front three of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane appear to be getting back to their irresistible best.
There is hope for Brighton, though. Prior to Liverpool’s successes in London, they had failed to beat West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle, Southampton, Manchester United and Burnley.
Sean Dyche’s side winning 1-0 at Anfield through an Ashley Barnes penalty ended the Reds’ 68 game unbeaten home run. If home defeats are like London buses on Merseyside, then who is to say a second is not just around the corner?
Brighton v Liverpool head-to-head
Brighton’s joy against Liverpool in the past has tended to come from FA Cup meetings. The Albion famously knocked the Reds out of the world’s greatest cup competition in both the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons with the second of those eliminations costing Liverpool the quadruple as they went onto win the English title, the League Cup and the European Cup that year.
Overall, there have been 32 matches played across top flight, second tier, FA Cup and League Cup. Brighton have won just four with nine draws and 19 Liverpool victories.
The Albion’s only league success at Anfield came in March 1983. Brighton won 1-0 through an Andy Ritchie goal but the Seagulls’ best player on the day was a big puddle of mud.
Said puddle denied Ian Rush an equaliser by preventing the ball crossing the line after the Liverpool striker had beaten Seagulls goalkeeper Perry Digweed, allowing Steve Foster to get back and hack clear.
Let us take a second out from our preview to pray for a mass downpour over Merseyside before Liverpool v Brighton. Every little helps, right?
Brighton’s head-to-head record with Liverpool
Last six meetings
• Brighton 1-1 Liverpool (Premier League, 28/11/20)
• Brighton 1-3 Liverpool (Premier League, 08/07/20)
• Liverpool 2-1 Brighton (Premier League, 30/11/19)
• Brighton 0-1 Liverpool (Premier League, 12/01/19)
• Liverpool 1-0 Brighton (Premier League, 25/08/18)
• Liverpool 4-0 Brighton (Premier League, 13/05/18)
November’s game at the Amex was the only match in which Brighton have managed to take a point from Liverpool since winning promotion to the Premier League in 2017.
There have been a couple of other close run things. The Reds had to rely on Salah’s Tom Daley impersonation to win a penalty at the Amex in January 2019 in a 1-0 win over Chris Hughton’s Albion.
10 months later and Brighton were worthy of a point at Anfield, giving Liverpool one of the hardest home games of their title winning season.
That sparked another Klopp fit, this time because he did not like that Lewis Dunk had shown a brilliant piece of quick thinking to strike a free kick past Adrian whilst the Liverpool goalkeeper and defence were pratting around trying to get organised.
Klopp said it was not fair, a statement which must rank amongst the most ironic ever made. Six months earlier, the Liverpool manager and their supporters had sung the praises of Alexander-Arnold for a similarly clever piece of play from a quickly taken corner to eliminate Barcelona from the Champions League.
Team news
For the visit of Brighton, Liverpool remain without van Dijk who, as already noted in our match preview, every Reds fan in the country is still in mourning for.
Klopp has been a busy man in the January transfer window, signing two new centre backs to cover for so many absences in his defence. Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak have been drafted in from Preston North End and Schalke 04 respectively and both could make their debuts against the Albion.
Brighton did something very unusual against Fulham and Spurs and actually named the same starting XI for consecutive matches, leading to rumours that Potter must be unwell.
It seems very unlikely that the Albion will be unchanged for a third game running. Joel Veltman and Alexis Mac Allister have knocks and with a crucial game away in the 19th century on Saturday at Burnley, Potter will not want to risk two such important individuals or some of his other big name players. Expect the Selection Roulette Wheel to be back out on Merseyside.
Liverpool’s danger men
The Redmen’s victories over West Ham and Spurs came via an impressive display of attacking football. Salah, Firmino and Mane will all need to be kept quiet if Brighton are to come away from Anfield with anything to show for their efforts.
The betting value for Liverpool v Brighton
Normally in a match preview for Brighton away against one of the big six, the betting side of things is easy – do not back the Albion – but this trip to Liverpool feels a little different.
The Reds’ new look defence will not have had any time to gel and that could make them susceptible. The odds on both teams to score at 22/23 is reflective of that, so if you think the Albion are going to net at Anfield then it becomes a case of trying to predict who the player doing so will be and going for the anytime market.
Nobody knows what Potter’s selection wheel will throw up, but there must be a good chance Percy Tau will start. If he plays as well as he did in the 1-0 defeat at Manchester City against a backline nowhere near as good as the Citizens’, then the Lion of Judah could well open his account in Brighton blue at Anfield. He is a big priced 6/1.
An interesting subplot
Liverpool v Brighton could be seen as an audition for two Albion players who have piqued the interest of those at Anfield in recent times.
Yves Bissouma has been heavily linked with a big money move to Merseyside this summer as Klopp looks to replace Gini Wijnaldum. Bissouma is already one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and with plenty of scope for improvement too as he is only 24-years-old.
His skillset looks perfectly suited to Liverpool and you would have to say if he was going to move to any of the rumoured English clubs – Manchester United and Arsenal are also interested – you would hope it to be the Redmen as it would represent the best move for his career.
Ben White has also been watched by Klopp previously. Most experts suspect that Liverpool will move for a marquee defender in the summer as Davies and Kabak appear to be short-term measures, and that could mean a big money bid coming in for White who would tick a lot of boxes as a versatile, ball playing centre back.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Liverpool away
Meeting Jimmy Case outside Anfield following the 4-0 defeat on the final day of the 2017-18 season. Shockingly, not many other Albion fans seemed to recognise the greatest midfielder in Brighton history hanging around outside the stadium.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Liverpool away
Never stay in an easyJet hotel as it is the most budget of budget places. We made that mistake for said 4-0 loss and waking up in what was effectively a box with no sunlight or windows after a 15 hour drinking session across Liverpool… you would not wish that on your worst enemy.
Liverpool’s most famous fan
Unsurprisingly given that they are one of the world’s biggest clubs, Liverpool have an incredible list of celebrity fans. Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig, Elvis Costello, Samuel L Jackson, Liam Neeson and former WWE Champion Sheamus are names which just scratch the surface of the Reds’ famous supporters.
Prediction
Wouldn’t it just be Typical Brighton to go and get a result at Anfield and then follow it up by losing at Burnley three days later? With that in mind, a surprisingly positive preview prediction of Liverpool 1-1 Brighton.
