Photo: Rodhullandemu, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Liverpool beat Brighton 2-0 at Anfield on Sunday, scoring twice in five first-half minutes to end the visitors' eight-game unbeaten run and record a first Premier League win at home this season.
A Pascal Gross own goal on 17 minutes and an Alexander Isak finish on 21 minutes settled a windswept Matchweek 8 clash. The win — Liverpool's fourth in a row in all competitions — lifts Andoni Iraola's side up to fourth in the table, to within a point of Brighton.
The turning point
For a few minutes, this looked like it might be Brighton's day. The visitors had already been disrupted by an early injury — Ferdi Kadioglu forced off after just six minutes — but they carved out the best chance of the opening quarter-hour when Diego Gomez played Gross into the box and the German cut the ball back for Yasin Ayari, who blazed over what was essentially an open goal.
Brighton were made to pay immediately. Liverpool pressed high and worked their way into the visitors' box, and when a Ronald Araujo cross was half-cleared, Florian Wirtz picked up the loose ball and fired a low strike at goal that went in off Gross. The Premier League Match Centre later adjudged it an own goal — but Anfield did not care who got the credit.
Four minutes later, the game was effectively over as a contest. Bradley Barcola blocked an attempted Brighton clearance, raced onto the deflection, brushed off a challenge and sent an inviting delivery into the box, where Isak expertly guided it home from close range. Two goals, five minutes, and the in-form visitors were stunned.
The goals
Gross OG, 17 minutes: Wirtz's low effort from a half-cleared Araujo cross deflected off the Brighton midfielder and into the net. 1-0.
Isak, 21 minutes: Barcola's run and cross from the right, finished first-time by the Swedish striker. 2-0 — and Isak's scoring run in the league continues.
Brighton, to their credit, did not fold. They had warnings before the break: Jeremy Jacquet and Araujo both had to make brave blocks with their heads, Ayari bent an effort off the post on 36 minutes after Liverpool gave the ball away from a goal-kick, and Bart Verbruggen tipped away a powerful Araujo drive that would have made it 3-0 at half-time. Cody Gakpo, meanwhile, was twice denied by Verbruggen and wasted more than one big opportunity as he dallied in possession.
The second half was a different kind of test. Brighton threw caution to the swirling wind and committed more men forward, but Liverpool held their shape and their clean sheet. Wirtz, who had taken a knock in an awkward moment around the hour mark, was replaced by Trey Nyoni on 65 minutes; Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas came on for Barcola and Isak on 77 minutes. Araujo's full-blooded approach — including one old-school slide challenge that brought roars from the stands — kept the crowd in voice even as the tempo slowed, and Liverpool saw the game out with room to spare.
What it means
For Brighton, this was only a second defeat in 13 matches in all competitions this season — but it ends an eight-game unbeaten run and a run of five consecutive clean sheets. They stay just above Liverpool, but the gap is now a single point.
For Liverpool, this was a statement win in every sense: a first home league victory of the campaign, a clean sheet against one of the league's most in-form sides, and a fourth straight win in all competitions after the midweek 4-3 Champions League victory over Villarreal. The worry is Wirtz, whose injury concern forced the first change of the afternoon.
Next up, Liverpool host Chelsea in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. Brighton will look to bounce back — and to rediscover the defensive solidity that had carried them to third.
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Watch the official highlights on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju2qucCkEYI