Up against Brighton today, Jurgen Klopp will be aiming to do something he hasn’t done in over four years with Liverpool.
At long last the wait is over. Liverpool are finally back in action after a long and gruelling international break. However, it was an international break where Liverpool were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, even though 20 first team players were involved on international duty, with the exception of Andy Robertson, no one picked up any injuries. Even Robertson’s injury is not as serious as first thought, and the Scotsman should only miss a couple of games.
That means coming up against Brighton today, Klopp has a relatively strong squad. You can make the case that it’s one of the strongest squads he had in a while. Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch are both back.
Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah will be involved after recuperating during the international break. And Dominik Szoboszlai, looks to have regained his best form since recovering from his injury, after having scored twice in two games for Hungary.
What Liverpool haven’t done against Brighton since 2019
This Brighton side have been ravaged by injury ahead of their trip to Anfield. The likes of Kaoru Mitoma, Solly March, James Milner and Joao Pedro are all injury doubts for the game. However, even so, this is a strong and tricky opponent.
Roberto De Zerbi’s side are still very much fighting for a European place at the moment, and they have a very good recent record against Liverpool.
In fact, in four previous games, De Zerbi is yet to lose to Jurgen Klopp. Last time out they drew 2-2 at Brighton back in October. Before that, last season De Zerbi thrashed Liverpool 3-0 and also knocked them out of the FA 2-1 during January 2023.
Recently, Trent Alexander-Arnold has named Brighton as the most difficult opponent he has faced. There might be another reason why.
At Anfield, Liverpool haven’t beaten Brighton since 2019. On the last three occasions, Brighton has either stolen a point or snatched victory. The results were as follows:
- 1st October 2022 – Liverpool vs Brighton 3-3
- 30th October 2021 – Liverpool vs Brighton 2-2
- 3rd February 2021 – Liverpool vs Brighton 0-1
What happened the last time Liverpool beat Brighton at Anfield?
The last time Liverpool managed to beat Brighton at Anfield was back in November 2019, well over four years ago now.
The game saw Liverpool take an early lead, with Virgil van Dijk scoring twice in the space of six minutes between the 18th and 24th minute.
Brighton made a late come back with Lewis Dunk scoring in the 79th minute. However, in the end, Liverpool held on and continued their really good run of form that season.
This victory obviously came during Liverpool’s march to the Premier League title back in the 2019/20 season. Perhaps, if Liverpool can get victory today, that will be another omen that the Reds are on course to repeat that famous campaign.