Liverpool will host Brighton & Hove Albion this weekend at Anfield in an important Premier League game. Liverpool’s form this season hasn’t been so good and they are positioned around mid-table with just a few wins in their last 10 games.
However, Softfootball recently reported their 1-0 victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League match after Dominik Szoboszlai scored a late goal, giving the team confidence for the weekend game.
Brighton announced the scheduled match on their official X handle:
Liverpool are also faced with internal issues especially the one involving key player Mohamed Salah. Salah publicly voiced his frustration about being kept aside and criticised by Arne Slot, resulting in a possibility of not starting the match.
On the other hand, Brighton are a little above Liverpool in the Premier League table and are in decent form. They have drawn some matches like the recent 1-1 tie with West Ham and won some recent games, also showing good performance away from home.
In their head-to-head record, Liverpool have the historical advantage at Anfield, having lost only one of their last eight home league games against Brighton. But Brighton won their last meeting 3-2 and will be confident they can challenge again.
In a pre match conference shared on the club’s official X handle, Slot spoke about their opponent and the need to adopt a more direct approach to challenge Liverpool’s defence. He said,
Not only I’ve said it, it’s so clear and obvious every time, sometimes I see a photo that some pundits have shown that it’s so obvious that if you see the league, I think the league has become much more direct. But then there’s the league and then there’s Liverpool and how teams play against us in terms of how direct they play. That’s, I think, a nicer word than a long ball. That’s one thing. And I think there have been certain game plans against us that I’ve seen more and more and more and more as well, which I referred to in the press conference before the Inter game. I’ve said multiple times, we have to adapt. Let’s take the Sunderland game where we struggled to create a lot of chances and the game after they faced a team that hit a shot from far outside the box and scored a set-piece. These are the ways to unlock a team that’s either defending low and hardly gives away anything. The other option is, of course, an individual that just outplays, dominates the one-v-one. That is also something when I looked at the Manchester City-Real Madrid game, I saw some great examples of that, one or two individuals that were able to create a lot and another set-piece scored in that game as well.
Watch the full Press conference below:
Fabian Hurzeler, the head coach of Brighton & Hove Albion also spoke ahead of the match in a pre match conference shared on the club’s official YouTube channel. He said,
I’m quite convinced that we go there tomorrow and play with a lot of courage. I think in these kind of games you need a lot of belief, belief in your own quality, belief in your teammates because without belief you can’t win this game, so it’s definitely a big word tomorrow that we go there with big belief and we can go there with big confidence and with big belief in our quality and our style of play because we proved it this season and last season that we can beat these kind of teams. If we stick together, we are capable of great achievements.
Watch the full pre match conference below:
Team News
For Liverpool, Conor Bradley is on suspension. Giovanni Leoni and Cody Gakpo are injured. Salah was in doubt because of his tension with Arne Slot but a recent report made by Softfootball shows that Salah has been recalled to the squad in view of this weekend match.
For Brighton, Jason Steele and Adam Webster are injured so they won’t be available.
Possible Lineups
Liverpool (4-4-2)
Alisson; Joe Gomez, Konaté, Van Dijk, Milos Kerkez; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Wirtz; Hugo Ekitike; Alexander Isak.
Brighton (4-2-3-1)
Bart Verbruggen; Mats Wieffer, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Ferdi Kadıoğlu; Carlos Baleba, Diego Gómez; Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, Maxim De Cuyper; Danny Welbeck.
Prediction
Being the favourites, Liverpool are expected to win but Brighton are capable of scoring and taking points, so the game could lean towards a 2-1 win for Liverpool.
