Liverpool bounced back from their first loss of 2022 to beat Brighton 2-0 in the Premier League.
The result allowed the Reds to maintain pressure on leaders, Manchester City, closing the gap once again to three points with a showdown at the Etihad in April still in the sights.
Liverpool handled their business on the south coast however, Luis Dias taking a right hook to jaw in the process of scoring a first half header, with Seagulls keeper Robert Sanchez controversially managing to stay on the pitch despite a reckless attempted clearance. Mohamed Salah then added security in the second half, powering a penalty down the middle after Yves Bissouma handled in the box.
The Reds then weathered some late pressure from their hosts, with Alisson stepping up to make several stops while also refreshing viewers on the rule that the keeper is able to have his feet outside of the box as long as the ball in his hands remains inside the area.
The visiting Liverpool never appeared to move out of the lower gears, appearing to conserve energy for the battles ahead.
“We were really, really strong,” manager Jurgen Klopp said in his post-match interview.
“Scored a great goal and had some really good moments. We had massive chances we missed the final pass but I’m really happy.”
“We were good. Brighton is a really good team and cause you problems, and that’s what we saw in the beginning. We need to get used to the opponents early on.”
“We had our chances, we had our counter-attacks which we didn’t use but that’s fine. I’m not going to be too critical of the boys in these moments.”
It was not all good news for the Red men however, as Salah worryingly needed to be substituted in the second half after appearing to experience some discomfort in the knee area.
“We will see,” Klopp said when asked for an updated. “He thinks it’s not too serious but we will see. He thinks it’s from when he hit the ball and he got blocked.”
The German refused to be drawn into speculation around the title race, although his response seemed to indicate that he might have City’s upcoming fixture with Crystal Police blocked off on his calendar:
“It’s not our job to call it that,” Klopp added. “City play Monday at 8pm and you just expect them to win their games. The only thing we feel is that we want to win our football games and that’s what we try to do.”
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