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37 min: Wieffer meets Konate\u2019s clearing header with a sliced volley that\u2019s currently halfway to Hampshire.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 36 min: Brighton are right back in this now, having invited Liverpool<\/a> on for their equaliser. Minteh seeing a fair bit of the ball out on the left. \u201cThe little run in behind by Kerkez was pure Andy Robertson-esque tenacity,\u201d writes Matt Dony. \u201cAnd there is little higher praise.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 34 min: Some good news for Liverpool<\/a>? Ekitike, who went straight down the tunnel after being subbed, is now sitting in the dugout, looking comfortable and happy enough.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 32 min: \u2026 but now it\u2019s Brighton\u2019s turn to respond, and Hinshelwood creams a glorious rising drive inches over the bar from 25 yards. Mamardashvili probably had it covered, though it would have required a strong hand to tip over.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 31 min: That\u2019s an awful mistake by Dunk, but wonderful anticipation by Kerkez. Cute finish, too. Mamardashvili making up for his role in Brighton\u2019s opener with the long pass. Liverpool<\/a> deserve their equaliser, they\u2019ve been highly decent since going behind.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Liverpool (Kerkez 30)<\/p>\n Mamardashvili launches long. Dunk back-flicks a header, without realising that Kerkez is steaming in from the inside-left position. Kerkez nips in ahead of Verbruggen, flicking elegantly over the keeper and into the empty net!<\/p>\n Cracker: Liverpool\u2019s Milos Kerkez scores. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.22 EDT<\/p>\n 29 min: Mac Allister\u2019s speculative ball down the right for Jones forces Kadioglu into the concession of a corner. Szoboszlai sends the set piece in. Gomez clears. But then \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 28 min: Liverpool<\/a> have had 85 percent of possession during the last five minutes. It\u2019s a decent response to falling behind.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 27 min: Minteh jumps late into Frimpong, clearing the man out in mid-air. He\u2019s just been booked, and is really testing his luck. The referee lets him off this time, but he might be in the last-chance saloon now.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 26 min: Szoboszlai floats the free kick into the mixer. That leads to a corner, from which Van Dijk wins a header. But not with any conviction. Brighton clear.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 25 min: Another free kick for Liverpool<\/a>, in a similar position. This one due to Minteh bringing down Gakpo from behind. It earns the Brighton man a booking.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 24 min: Szoboszlai aims for the top-left corner but clears the bar, the wall too close for comfort. \u201cLiverpool\u2019s this season always seem to find another rake to stand on,\u201d observes Sideshow Niall Mullen.<\/p>\n Mr free-kick strikes high. Photograph: Sean Ryan\/IPS\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.15 EDT<\/p>\n 23 min: Gravenberch advances down the middle and is clumsily brought down by Gomez. A free kick just to the left of centre, a couple of yards behind the D. Szoboszlai Country.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.09 EDT<\/p>\n 22 min: They\u2019re decent up front, though. Szoboszlai curls a cross in from the right, and Mac Allister flashes a header towards the bottom right. Verbruggen does exceptionally well to claw it out for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but that will give Liverpool<\/a> succour.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 21 min: Plenty of time for Minteh down the left. He\u2019s got time to size up his cross, so it\u2019s a bit of disappointment for Brighton when Gomez has to stretch his neck to meet it, six yards out. He can only head over the bar. That was a good opportunity for Brighton. Liverpool<\/a> are absurdly easy to play through.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 20 min: Liverpool<\/a> have enjoyed 57 percent of possession so far, and played more than twice the number of passes in their opponents\u2019 final third. Much good it\u2019s done them. \u201cMilner may well now have a target on his back but am not sure who the Liverpool reducer is,\u201d sighs Ian Copestake. \u201cVirgil perhaps, as the rest are too nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 18 min: Mac Allister, on his old patch, tries to release Frimpong down the right. He nearly manages it, too, but Minteh sticks to Frimpong\u2019s shoulder and wins the footrace by a couple of nanoseconds. Meanwhile here\u2019s Alun Pugh with a big prediction: \u201cIn the first game of football to be played fifty years after the events of 2026 erupted into an intercontinental nuclear exchange, one side will feature the indestructible James Milner in midfield.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 16 min: Liverpool<\/a> try to respond immediately, Gakpo chasing into the box and opening his body for a shot. But it\u2019s blocked. Brighton\u2019s tails are up, and their fans are in great voice. Liverpool with a load of bullet holes in their shoes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Liverpool (Welbeck 14)<\/p>\n Mamardashvili scuffs a simple pass straight out of play. Konate to blame as well, letting the ball roll under his foot. From the resulting throw, the ball\u2019s crossed long from the left. Gomez rises high at the far post and heads across the face of goal. Welbeck can\u2019t miss, jumping by the left-hand post to head home from a couple of yards. A great goal from Brighton\u2019s point of view, a terrible one from Liverpool\u2019s.<\/p>\n Brighton & Hove Albion’s Danny Welbeck scores their first goal. Photograph: Paul Childs\/Action Images\/ReutersAnd celebrates. Photograph: Gareth Fuller\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.05 EDT<\/p>\n 13 min: Szoboszlai sends the corner to the near post, but Brighton clear their lines without fuss.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12 min: Wirtz looks for Gakpo again, this time with a long pass down the left. Gakpo reaches the ball this time and wins Liverpool\u2019s first corner of the afternoon.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 11 min: Wirtz has the chance to release Gakpo down the middle but overhits the through ball. Verbruggen claims.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 10 min: Szoboszlai spots Verbruggen off his line and tries to beat the keeper from the halfway line. He gets the distance but not the direction.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 9 min: Wirtz sends Frimpong into space down the right. Frimpong enters the box and opens his body to shoot, but Kadioglu does just enough to put him off. He cuts back instead for Szoboszlai, who leans back and lashes wildly over the bar.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 8 min: Ekitike goes down again. Dunk hauls him up. Gross offers him a low five of friendship. Ekitike slaps it in the frustrated style. He knows his race is run today. He departs down the tunnel, a picture of sadness. On comes Jones in his place.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6 min: Ekitike is back on, but still hobbling around. \u201cThe fact a road traffic incident caused this when the ground is in a city known for its green streak and is literally next to a train station feels like a story of just how car-centric this country still is,\u201d observes David Howell.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5 min: Ekitike doesn\u2019t look happy at all. He\u2019s got a dead leg and can\u2019t put any weight on it. He hobbles off shaking his head. He\u2019s having a lot of trouble. He\u2019ll be given time to see if he can run it off, but Jones is warming up, just in case.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4 min: Now Milner comes clattering into Ekitike, who stays down in some pain. No favours granted to Milner\u2019s old team.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 min: Milner catches Szoboszlai on the back of the neck with a forearm, but there\u2019s no free kick. On the touchline, Arne Slot emits an unambiguous: \u201cNo free kick?! Aw [word redacted by Family Website editor] hell!\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min: Liverpool<\/a> do the PSG thing of hoicking the kick-off straight into touch near the corner flag, rugby-union style.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Liverpool get the ball rolling. The Amex continues to fill up, and the atmosphere crackles.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The teams are out, ahead of this delayed 12.45pm kick-off. Brighton in their blue and white stripes, Liverpool in red. Plenty of fans in their seats now, albeit the stadium isn\u2019t totally full yet. A lovely sunny spring day in Sussex by the Sea<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Arne Slot speaks frankly to TNT. \u201cYou cannot compare a home game, a Champions League night against Galatasaray, to Brighton away \u2026 but you have to take the positives \u2026 we know we face a different opponent today \u2026 we have to be even better to get a result here today \u2026 [Brighton] have good players \u2026 their manager is always able to come up with a very good game plan \u2026 his players are able to execute that plan \u2026 very intense \u2026 only play once a week \u2026 they can train on that game plan \u2026 it is important to have two very good goalkeepers and we have that \u2026 there is hardly any room for error any more \u2026 we have made quite a few errors this season \u2026 the main ones was dropping points in extra time \u2026 now we are in this situation \u2026 though I don\u2019t think we have to win eight, we have to play every game as a final \u2026 get the most out of the game possible \u2026 let\u2019s see what it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In last week\u2019s episode \u2026<\/a><\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Florian Wirtz has been chatting to Steve McManaman on TNT Sports. Happily for you, for me, for all of us, David Tindall scribbled down a few choice words from the interview and published them in this morning\u2019s Matchday Live blog, in an MBM-friendly cut-and-paste-able format. So here they are.<\/p>\n Wirtz said: \u201cEveryone in the world knows that the Premier League<\/a> is the most intense and physically it was maybe a bit more than I was thinking but there\u2019s always difficult things on the pitch where you have to adapt. Maybe you have also a bit more responsibility for more people who are supporting you and wanting you to do good.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was at Leverkusen, I could have more time on the ball and maybe turn easier. Here you have to be so ready, with your first touch you have to be away already because otherwise there are three people on you and smashing into you. That\u2019s maybe also a big difference. I have to be faster in my decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Pre-match postbag. \u201cA little over a month ago, Brighton lost at home to Crystal Palace, and the home fans let loose with the first real round of substantial postgame booing that Fabian Hurzeler had ever heard there. (Rightly so, too, they were on a 1-6-5 run going back to the start of December.) We neutrals reacted like, whoa there, that\u2019s serious, that just doesn\u2019t happen at Brighton. Now here we are with Liverpool<\/a> and the squad being booed off at Anfield after blowing it against Tottenham last weekend. And it\u2019s the same reaction: \u2018Whoa there, that just doesn\u2019t happen at Anfield.\u2019 If I\u2019m Arne Slot, and I have the chance to greet and catch up with Hurzeler before the game, I\u2019m thinking I might see if he\u2019s up for talking about it\u201d \u2013 Eric Peterson<\/p>\n \u201cLiverpool has been quite consistent in not being consistent so am preparing myself for a familiar pattern of a first half struggle followed by a desperate second half to try and save things. But hey, am happy to be very wrong\u201d \u2013 Ian Copestake<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Kick-off delayed<\/p>\n Kick-off has been delayed until 12.45pm. The result of a traffic incident on the A27. Long queues on the roads leading up to the Amex, and so a lot of fans are still to make it into the stadium. Seeing we\u2019re on the south coast \u2026<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.07 EDT<\/p>\n H\u00fcrzeler\u2019s side can get into the top half of the table with a win this lunchtime. They\u2019d leapfrog over Everton into eighth spot, for a couple of hours at least. (Fulham host Burnley at 3pm and Everton welcome Chelsea at 5.30pm, but with Newcastle not in action until tomorrow\u2019s north-east derby, a top-half spot come bedtime would be guaranteed.) Liverpool can move into fourth with a win; Aston Villa don\u2019t play until they host West Ham tomorrow. Sumer The business end of the season is icumen in<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Brighton boss Fabian H\u00fcrzeler talks to TNT Sports. \u201cWe try to stick to your principles \u2026 don\u2019t over-react \u2026 don\u2019t get too depressive \u2026 don\u2019t focus on the lows \u2026 keep the work ethic high \u2026 I am a big believer of this team \u2026 of the quality of the players \u2026 they stepped up \u2026 showed ownership and responsibility \u2026 we have been able to manage the key moments of the game \u2026 every player knows his role \u2026 it is so important to do the small margins right \u2026 we need to play intense today \u2026 we have to be really tight \u2026 press like a very compact team \u2026 I always see football as an event \u2026 fans spend a lot of money \u2026 we want to win with our identity \u2026 we are not known for set-piece culture \u2026 playing with courage \u2026 being innovative \u2026 how you want to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Brighton have won three of their last four Premier League<\/a> fixtures, so it\u2019s no wonder they\u2019re in an If It Ain\u2019t Broke mood. They\u2019re unchanged from the 1-0 win at Sunderland last Saturday.<\/p>\n Liverpool make two changes to their starting XI after the 4-0 rout of Galatasaray. Mo Salah and Alisson are both injured, so in come Cody Gakpo and Giorgi Mamardashvili.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams<\/p>\n Brighton & Hove Albion: Verbruggen, Wieffer, van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu, Milner, Gross, Gomez, Hinshelwood, Minteh, Welbeck. Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Ekitike. Referee: Darren England Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.28 EDT<\/p>\n Preamble<\/p>\n This particular fixture hasn\u2019t gone well for Liverpool of late. Brighton are unbeaten in three, though that kind of buries the lede: the Seagulls have won two of those three fixtures, a 3-0 thrashing in January 2023<\/a> and a come-twice-from-behind thriller last May<\/a>. Throw in a staunch 2-2 draw in October 2023<\/a>, and Liverpool won\u2019t be fancying this at all.<\/p>\n But they have already beaten Brighton twice this season, in both league<\/a> and cup<\/a> at Anfield. They\u2019re also coming off the back of their performance of the season, against Galatasaray, in which Mo relocated his mojo. And while they lost in the FA Cup in January 2023<\/a>, Liverpool did win at the Amex in the League Cup in October 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yes, these two clubs usually give each other a game. Which is probably the best place to leave this preamble, because not only is it a fool\u2019s errand to try to unpick all of the above, these are two of the most currently unpredictable teams in the land, capable of wonder or woe on any given day. So good luck predicting the outcome. Given there has only ever been one goalless draw between these two clubs in 45 meetings, and that back in 1961, we\u2019re hoping for some more of that sweet, sweet wonder. Kick-off is at 12.30pm GMT. It\u2019s on!<\/p>\n
Subs: Steele, Rutter, Baleba, Kostoulas, Boscagli, Mitoma, Ayari, De Cuyper, Veltman.<\/p>\n
Subs: Woodman, Gomez, Chiesa, Jones, Robertson, Nyoni, Ramsay, Morrison, Ngumoha.<\/p>\n
VAR: James Bell<\/p>\n