Any Points Will Do For Liverpool Against Brighton

It wasn’t the creamy filling that we were hoping for but Huddersfield holding Chelsea to a draw on Wednesday still gives Liverpool the subtle savor of Champions League qualification by needing only a point against Brighton & Hove Albion on the final day.

Jürgen Klopp’s best mate and fine manager to boot, David Wagner, went ahead against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge just inside the second half. Too good to be true, surely. Indeed. Chelsea equalized twelve minutes later to save themselves a chance of a last gasp leap at the top four. That’s Football™.

On the bright side, Wagner and his players secured Premier League survival with the draw and we’ll get another couple Klopp/Wagner match-buddy build-ups next season.

So Chelsea earned a point in London to see them in fifth place on 70 points. Liverpool sit in fourth place on 72 points having just been jumped by Tottenham after beating Newcastle. Separated by two points and a goal difference of +15, Liverpool can secure their place in the top four by managing a point on Saturday against Brighton.

There is plenty going in Liverpool’s favor ahead of the last match. The opposition is a team who don’t score a lot of goals or keep too many clean sheets and have narrowly missed out on relegation this season. The match taking place at Anfield is a plus since Klopp’s team haven’t lost a match at home since January. And it’s not an early kick-off. Ding, ding.

Also, Liverpool won the reverse fixture 5-1 on December 2. Roberto Firmino scored two. Emre Can was on the board, as was Coutinho. The fifth was an own-goal by Lewis Dunk. Which reminds me, another plus is that Brighton has the players with the best names. Dunk, of course, Also, Bong and Groß (pronounced Gross). Should be fun.