Liverpool 2-1 Brighton: Premier League – live reaction

Interesting statistics:

12: Mo Salah had 11 shots in today’s game, the most he has had in a league match for Liverpool.

26: Liverpool have now won 26 points from losing position in this season’s Premier League. This is a big number.

The top of the table now looks like this:

90+7 mins: Liverpool win the ball back and slowly move forward, taking no risks and no hurry. Eventually the referee ends it!

90+6 mins: Into the final 30 seconds of this game. Brighton have the ball. Whistles ring out.

90+5 mins: Salah leads a break, but his pass to Elliott is rubbish. Then Liverpool win the ball back and it’s worked again to Salah, but he shoots wide!

90+4 mins: Gakpo gives Veltman’s shirt a tug. Yellow card. Tension.

90+4 mins: Gravenberch comes on for Szoboszlai.

90+3 mins: From wide to the right of goal Welbeck slams a shot into the side netting. Various Liverpool players tell various other Liverpool players off for allowing it to happen.

90+3 mins: Liverpool find themselves in a promising position but Mac Allister’s pass is a bit too strong for Elliott, and then his pass is a bit too strong for Szoboszlai, and the moment passes.

90+2 mins: A lovely turn in the Liverpool half from *check notes* Dunk, but the ball runs to Van Dijk and he hammers clear.

90+1 mins: There will be six minutes of stoppage time.

90 mins: Sensational save! Elliott’s disappointing pull-back sometimes squirms through to Salah, whose shot looked destined to go in at the far post but somehow Verbruggen gets a glove in the way!

90 mins: Salah tries to wriggle past four defenders on halfway, when he has passing options, and can’t manage it.

88 mins: Endo pulls back Van Hecke, and he goes in the book. Liverpool bring Gakpo on for Luis Diaz.

87 mins: A third of a chance (approximately) for Lallana, whose shot squirms just wide. Anfield is a nervous place right now.

86 mins: Some scrappy, careless defending from Liverpool, who play Quansah into trouble and finally see Kelleher claim the ball.

83 mins: Liverpool have a corner, and Elliott’s first touch is to head the ball towards the far post, and Ferguson’s is to stop it and clear!

83 mins: A double substitution for Brighton, who take off Moder and Adingra and bring on Lallana and Ferguson.

82 mins: There’s still time for a fourth goal, and with Brighton looking for an equaliser Liverpool are finding more space on the counter. Luis Diaz’s shot deflects wide, and Harvey Elliott comes on to replace Nunez.

82 mins: From the corner Dunk wins another header, but Kelleher beats Welbeck to the ball.

81 mins: Save! Now Dunk’s in action at the other end, heading goalwards from a free kick but Kelleher turns it round the post!

80 mins: Brighton have a spell of pressure, which almost inevitably ends with a dangerous Liverpool break. Szoboszlai thumps the ball forward, but Lewis Dunk comes across to cut off Luis Diaz’s run as he looked to head clear.

77 mins: Though it hasn’t got much attention, there is another game on after this one. Here are the teams for that one:

Man City: Ortega, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne, Kovacic, Foden, Haaland. Subs: Stones, Grealish, Doku, Alvarez, Gomez, Matheus Luiz, Carson, Bobb, Lewis.Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice, Saka, Havertz, Gabriel Jesus. Subs: Ramsdale, Partey, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Nketiah, Tomiyasu, Trossard, Vieira, Zinchenko.Referee: Anthony Taylor.

75 mins: Brighton win a corner and from it Liverpool break, Luis Diaz passes to Salah but it’s slightly underhit, and the Egyptian has to shoot from the edge of the area and doesn’t do it very well, spearing the ball straight at the keeper.

72 mins: The referee played a fine advantage in the build-up to that non-goal, but he has since gone back to Van Hecke, the guilty party, and shown him a yellow card.

72 mins: It is offside, by the tightest of margins! Salah’s pass deserved a goal, really, but there’s no points for artistic merit in this game.

71 mins: Liverpool have the ball in the net, but the flag is up! The move starts when Welbeck slips while in possession, and ends with Salah sliding a wonderfull pass through to Luis Diaz, whose shot squirms through the keeper’s legs. Over to VAR – this looks close!

69 mins: Szoboszlai’s one-man press nearly earns a reward when Verbruggen slips, but he recovers to hoof the ball into touch. Brighton bring Buonanotte on for Lamptey.

68 mins: A corner kick is delayed while the referee deals with the three spare balls which are lying behind Brighton’s goal and distracting him.

65 mins: Szoboszlai zings a pass infield from the right to Mac Allister, and he finds an excellent pass to Salah, running infield from the right wing, and this time he has space to control before sidefooting past Verbruggen!

Finally Mo Salah finds some space, and a finish!

View image in fullscreen

64 mins: Brighton are not keeping the ball well, but still they’re very hard to break down. Nunez shoots straight at the keeper from 10 yards.

63 mins: The spell ends with Szoboszlai sending a 30-yarder just wide of the far post.

61 mins: Liverpool keep the ball for a while, 10 yards or so outside Brighton’s penalty area, all 11 away players between ball and goal.

58 mins: Gomez is booked for bringing down Baleba as Brighton look to break, and that’s one decision that can’t be quibbled with.

57 mins: …Then he gives a free kick when Adingra goes down under hardly any contact in the centre circle.

55 mins: Salah spins in the area and goes down. The referee waves away calls for a penalty and on Sky Jamie Carragher praises the decision, even as he watches a replay that surely, unless my eyes completely deceived me, showed Salah being tripped.

54 mins: Now Luis Diaz chips a cross towards the back post, but it’s just too high for Salah.

54 mins: The ball drops to Szoboszlai on the edge of the area, and he shanks his left-footed shot so badly it turns into a pass for Nunez on the left wing. Gomez sends in a cross, which Mac Allister heads just wide!

51 mins: Liverpool try to pass the ball out of defence, but they’re repeatedly pressured into turning it back to Kelleher and eventually the keeper goes long and Brighton win possession.

50 mins: Now Van Dijk is booked, after Baleba goes down. Another very harsh decision.

49 mins: Another free kick for Brighton. Danny Welbeck demands a yellow card and duly gets one – for himself.

48 mins: Moder executes two 360-degree spins before going down over a Liverpool leg and winning a free kick in his own half. He’s got a fine turn on him, that man.

46 mins: Peeeeeep! Mac Allister gets the second half started.

A very entertaining half, but with too many errors, from players and officials, for it to be truly great. It still holds the promise of much more excitement in half two, happily.

“How on earth do Brighton keep finding gems like Adingra?” wonders Rupak Pramanik. “He already looks like a £75m player (according to Chelsea’s pricing).” Just the most extraordinary scouting operation, over years now – and they’ve been just as successful at identifying coaches. There’s something beautifully inexplicable about Brighton’s success.

45+5 mins: The free kick is headed away, and the referee blows his whistle (again). The home fans have a bit of a boo, presumably aimed at the official.

45+3 mins: Veltman goes down under a Luis Diaz challenge. The referee has been a bit whistle-happy to my tastes, and he doesn’t waste this chance to have a peep.

45+1 mins: There’ll be four minutes of stoppage time, give or take.

45 mins: Brighton pass the ball out of defence. Liverpool almost nick it off them about half a dozen times before they do so, but never quite get there.

42 mins: The ball falls to Mac Allister on the edge of the area, but he’s closed down before he can get a shot away.

38 mins: Then a Bradley chance, and shot over the bar. Brighton have defended their goal pretty well, and largely restricted Liverpool to half-chances. But there have been a lot of half-chances.

37 mins: Bradley crosses to Nunez at the near post, who throws himself at it and misses. The ball comes off a defender and back to Nunez, who improvises a hard, low shot from the turf. Verbruggen wasn’t paying the slightest attention – he had his arm in the air at the time – and is lucky that it hits his ankle and deflects wide.

35 mins: It’s Welbeck now in space down the left, and he pulls back to Moder, whose shot deflects off Van Dijk.

34 mins: Every promising Brighton attack has come down their left, where Simon Adingra is giving Conor Bradley a terribly hard time.

33 mins: Another feeble shot from a decent position for Liverpool, but there are more goals coming.