By Damon Forsythe

Arne Slot’s side tasted defeat for the 10th time in the premier league this season, handing the champions a massive blow in the race for European football. Two goals from former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck, is what separated the two sides in the Seagulls 2-1 victory.

Match Review

Liverpool came into this game full of confidence following the dominant display midweek against Galatasaray, a win that saw the Reds overcome a 1 goal deficit and advance to the final 8. 

The home side were not lacking any self belief themselves, three wins in their last four Premier League games coming into this matchup. With murmurs that Fabian Hurzeler’s job was in danger only a few months ago, it was clear that Brighton had turned a corner in recent weeks.

Arne Slot’s men started the game dominating the ball but were handed an early blow, a strong challenge from former red James Milner on Hugo Ekitike forced the Frenchman off with an injury. Curtis Jones replaced him, leaving Liverpool with no outlet for the remainder of the game, with Cody Gakpo playing the vocal point roll.

Credit: Reuters

14 minutes into the game is all it took for the home side to take the lead, a ball whipped in from Kadioglu, found Diego Gomez at the backpost unmarked, he headed it across goal to Danny Welbeck who was never going to miss the header. A very avoidable goal from a Liverpool point of view, Gomez unmarked in the box and Konate losing his aerial duel with the goalscorer.

Liverpool were much the better side after conceding, creating a few half-chances via Gakpo and Mac Alistair. The away side’s pressure paid off on the 30 minute mark, a long ball from Mamardashvili towards the Brighton backline fell onto the head of Lewis Dunk, under no pressure from any attacker knocked it back to his keeper but did not see the deeplying run made from Milos Kerkez. The ball fell kindly to the Hungarian but nothing can be taken away from the finish, a beautifully waited lob over Verbruggen drew the Reds level.

Neither side made their mark for the remainder of the first half, Arne Slot’s men responded well to going down and were hoping to build some sustained pressure in the following 45 minutes.

Credit: Liverpool.com

It was Brighton who took the lead once more at the start of the second half, a ball too the back post from the left-hand side once again, this time from Minteh who had been causing Frimpong problems all game, found Hinshelwood who played the ball across goal first time to Danny Welbeck and the Englishmen tapped it into an empty net, There was a hint of offside with the goal but VAR ruled it to be onside.

For the remainder of the game the Seagulls were the much more dominant side, limiting the away team to a couple of half chances while nearly scoring a few more of their own. The game finished 2-1 and once again Liverpool failed to capitalise on teams around them dropping points.

Substitutions Sunk Slot

Credit: Liverpool Echo

It was clear the Dutchman in the dugout got his substitutions wrong in this game, bringing on Jones for Ekitike early on through an injury to the Frenchman left his side weak up top proved to be the incurred decision. Once again, Rio Ngumoha was the brightest spark when he came on, but the youngster only saw 30 minutes of game time. 

Champions League Concerns

Credit: RantSports

Tis loss now puts champions league football more at risk for the champions this season, as of now they are still in the top 5 but with the current form and teams below closing in, Arne Slot’s men will need to turn their league form around if they want to qualify for the competition through the league. The only alternative would be to win the trophy but a very difficult tie against the previous winners PSG awaits in the next round. 

Player Ratings:

Giorgi Mamardashvili - 6.5

Jeremie Frimpong - 7

Ibrahima Konate - 6

Virgil van Dijk - 6

Milos Kerkez - 7

Ryan Gravenberch - 6

Alexis Mac Allister - 6

Florian Wirtz - 7

Dominik Szoboszlai - 7.5

Cody Gakpo - 6

Hugo Ekitike - N/A

Curtis Jones - 7

Rio Ngumoha - 6

Andy Robertson - 6

Federico Chiesa - 6