Inevitably, after a succession of incredible performances and results in the Premier League and Champions League (plus a win midweek in the League Cup against Preston, which has earned Liverpool a home quarter-final tie against Leicester) the Reds displayed signs of fatigue as they struggled against a fluid and confident Brighton side, who will feel slightly unlucky not to walk away from today’s clash at Anfield with all three points.
Yet, it all started swimmingly for Jurgen Klopp’s men, when Jordan Henderson, after being found by Mo Salah, scored with a trademark edge-of-the-area curling shot to put Liverpool 1-0 up after four minutes. Even if Brighton were looking threatening going forward – Alisson Becker in goal was proving their equal, making a succession of good saves and blocks – on 24 minutes, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (on for Naby Keita, the injury-prone Guinean going down this time with a hamstring strain) put in a swirling cross that evaded the Albion centre-backs and landed straight on the head of Sadio Mané, who simply had to guide it home from five yards out for Liverpool to go 2-0 up.
It looked as if Liverpool were going to have another comfortable afternoon, scoring a hatful of goals, and this sense was reinforced when on 33 minutes Brighton’s defence fiddled about at the back while being hunted down by the Reds’ attackers, leaving keeper Robert Sanchez to desperately lash the ball into the onrushing Mané and concede a third, only for VAR to intervene to adjudge the clearance had struck Mané’s arm before going in and cutting short Liverpool celebrations at killing off the game.
Seemingly energised by their stroke of good fortune, Brighton came more into the game and on 41 minutes some slick build up play ended with the ball coming to Zambian Enock Mwepu five yards outside the Liverpool area. Spotting Alisson more advanced than he should have been, Mwepu swept the ball over the keeper’s head who, scrambling and stretching, couldn’t reach the ball as it sailed into the back of the net.
In the second half, Brighton looked more like scoring an equaliser than Liverpool looked like going further ahead. Apart from his cross for Mané’s goal, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s contribution was minimal, his passing nervous, while Roberto Firmino was equally off his game. Curtis Jones was anonymous, while Trent Alexander Arnold struggled to find the space down the right to put in his deadly crosses. Mané was Liverpool’s best player and on 47 minutes his neat pass to the unusually quiet Mo Salah put the Egyptian through to score, only for the linesman’s flag to go up for offside.
Brighton eventually and deservedly did manage to score a second on 65 minutes, after ex-Red Adam Lallana found Leandro Trossard in the box and, after the Belgian easily evaded a hopeless challenge from Andy Robertson, he tucked the ball neatly into the net.
Rather than waking Liverpool up, Brighton’s equaliser gave belief to the south coast team that they could go on and win the game. Indeed, manager Graham Potter sensing his side were in the ascendency sent on attacking players to try and snatch a winner. And a winner was what it looked like Albion had scored when on 76 minutes more good play from the visitors ended with a pass into the box from Tariq Lamptey to Trossard, who rounded Alisson to score what would have been his second and Brighton’s third. This time, it was Liverpool who were saved by the linesman’s flag, rightly shown for Trossard being in a slightly offside position as he received the ball.
This disallowed goal was the last meaningful action of the game. Klopp sent on Diogo Jota for Firmino and Taki Minamino for Jones to no affect and Liverpool had to settle for the draw.
Having been two goals ahead, the Reds will be disappointed with the outcome, but it should be remembered that they were without Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, James Milner, Harvey Elliott and, after 20 minutes, Naby Keita. Jones would not have started and Oxlade-Chamberlain wouldn’t have gone on without these injuries to Liverpool’s midfield, which looked lightweight and disjointed.
Disappointment at dropping two points will be exacerbated since rivals Manchester City went down unexpectedly 2-0 to Crystal Palace, allowing Chelsea to take the opportunity of a 3-0 win at lowly Newcastle to go three points ahead of the Reds and five ahead of City in the title race.
Next up for Liverpool is a Champions League home tie against Atletico Madrid. A win against the Spanish champions will not only guarantee Liverpool qualification from the group but will mean that they can’t be caught for top spot. Klopp will, therefore, more than likely go with a strong line up to combat Diego Simeone’s dogged men, hoping victory will allow Liverpool to rest players for the games to come against Porto and AC Milan.
Following the Atletico clash, Liverpool will be away in a tricky looking fixture at high-flying West Ham, before there’s a two-week Premier League break for World Cup qualifiers.
