Match Preview: Brighton host Jurgen Klopp’s very, very, very tired Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp is worried about Brighton & Hove Albion. Not a sentence we ever expected to open a match preview between Brighton and Liverpool with, but if Klopp’s incessant whinging to the media this week is anything to go by then he is afraid. Very afraid.
Klopp’s fear comes because he feels his side have been harshly treated by having to play in the Champions League on Wednesday night followed by the Premier League on Saturday.
As a result, he rested a number of key players against Atalanta in midweek with one eye on the trip to the Amex 72 hours later. A 2-0 defeat to the Italians at Anfield seemed to do little to improve his mood.
What Klopp does not seem to realise is that playing twice in three days is part and parcel of football. Wait until he hears about what happens in the Championship, where clubs with a fraction of Liverpool’s talent and resources have to play Saturday-Tuesday throughout the season.
One can only imagine his reaction if someone were to tell him about the time the Albion had to play eight games in 28 days in March 2011.
Klopp’s head would probably explode at the thought – and that’s before the revelation that Gus Poyet’s The Dark Lord’s champions won all eight on their way to the League One title.
The Liverpool boss even went so far as to say earlier in the week that Liverpool should send Brighton the three points because of this perceived fixture congestion.
We would happily take that given the Albion have managed one home win in 2020. Someone winning the jackpot won on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire has happened as regularly this calendar year as a Brighton victory at the Amex.
Can the Albion improve that pretty pathetic record against the champions? Klopp certainly seems to think so. We are not so sure…
Liverpool this season
Despite all Klopp’s complaints and an unfortunate injury list which includes some of Liverpool’s biggest names, the Reds are making a good fist of defending their Premier League title so far.
They sit second in the table, level on points with Tottenham Hotspur but seven goals worse off. Liverpool’s poor goal difference can be attributed to one shocking result when they were hammered 7-2 by Aston Villa last month. The same Villa who Brighton beat 2-1 last week. Perhaps there is some hope.
Recent form
The defeat at Villa Park remains Liverpool’s only league loss of the season so far. That record has been made all the more impressive as they have faced a tricky opening nine games, including a Merseyside Derby with a vastly improved Everton, home matches with Arsenal and Leicester City and trips to Manchester City and Chelsea.
Wednesday night’s defeat to Atalanta is best ignored given the raft of changes that Klopp made with Andy Robertson, Diogo Jota, Fabinho and Roberto Firmino all starting on the bench.
A better indication for our match preview of what Brighton can expect to face against Liverpool – even with their current injury crisis – is that they hammered previous leaders Leicester 3-0 in their last league game.
The Reds may bemoan the fact they have a makeshift defence with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold all out, but they still managed to record a clean sheet against Jamie Vardy and co.
Brighton v Liverpool head-to-head
There have been 31 previous meetings between Brighton and Liverpool and the head-to-head does not make for pleasant reading. The Albion have won just four, drawing eight and losing 19.
Only two of those victories have come in the league. The first was in January 1961 when goals from Tony Nicholas, Dennis Windross and Roy Jennings gave the Albion a 3-1 second tier victory at the Goldstone Ground.
The other Seagulls success came at Anfield in March 1983. Brighton won 1-0 through an Andy Ritchie goal but the Albion were indebted to a big puddle of mud for helping them escape with the points after Ian Rush beat Seagulls goalkeeper Perry Digweed, only to see his shot get stuck in the mud on its way to goal, allowing Steve Foster to get back and hack clear.
If anyone from the Albion happens to be reading this preview, can we advise watering and churning up the goalmouths at the Amex before kick off against Liverpool? Every little helps.
Brighton’s head-to-head record with Liverpool
Last six meetings
• Brighton 1-3 Liverpool (Premier League, 08/07/20)
• Liverpool 2-1 Brighton (Premier League, 30/11/19)
• Brighton 0-1 Liverpool (Premier League, 12/01/19)
• Liverpool 1-0 Brighton (Premier League, 25/08/18)
• Liverpool 4-0 Brighton (Premier League, 13/05/18)
• Brighton 1-5 Liverpool (Premier League, 19/08/17)
Brighton and Liverpool have faced off six times since the Albion won promotion to the top flight in 2017 with the Redmen winning all six.
That only tells half the story though as Liverpool could consider themselves fortunate to pick up all three points on two of those occasion.
The January 2019 clash at the Amex saw Mo Salah become the most high-profile victim of the Ditchling Beacon sniper as he went down in the area as if he had been shot in the head.
Remarkably, the referee bought Salah’s theatrics and the Egyptian made a miraculous recovery to dust himself down and score the only goal of the game for the spot. You know it is bad when even Chris Hughton is moved to criticise the officials in a post-match press conference.
The Albion then gave Liverpool a real fright at Anfield last November. Lewis Dunk could have had a hat-trick, missing two free headers and scoring a cleverly taken quick free kick.
It finished 2-1 to the Reds but it was one of the toughest afternoons they had at home on their march to the title. Klopp was so rattled that he whinged afterwards that Dunk’s piece of opportunistic thinking should never have counted, which was clearly codswallop as Alexander-Arnold had been hailed a genius for a similar piece of play when Liverpool had knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League six months earlier.
Team news
Our preview has already covered the problems that Liverpool have in defence and according to Fantasy Football Scout, the Reds’ likely backline against Brighton will consist of midfielder Fabinho and the inexperienced Neco Williams.
You may remember Williams as the player Liverpool fans were hailing as the best young full back in the world, only for him to be hauled at half time at the Amex back in July because Tariq Lamptey had given him such a torrid time.
Williams and Liverpool will no doubt be bloody glad they will not have to face Lamptey on this occasion as he serves a one match ban. God knows who comes in for him as the Albion do not seem to have a clear back up; Steve Alzate could play there, Solly March could switch flanks with Dan Burn coming in on the left or Joel Veltman would offer a very square-peg-in-round-hole solution.
Adam Lallana is a doubt with the groin problem that forced him off at half time against Villa and it is not obvious who would take his place, either.
Alzate is an option, Ben White may step into midfield with Veltman in defence, Davy Propper could return from injury or Jayson Molumby might be given a full debut after coming off the bench at Villa Park.
As always with Graham Potter, you probably have more chance of successfully picking the lottery numbers than you do of second guessing what is going on in his mind.
Liverpool’s danger men
Even with his level of theatrics which would make Christopher Biggins blush, Salah is one of the world’s best players and if Brighton are to have a chance of success, they will need to find a way to keep him quiet.
Jota too has been a revelation since signing from Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer. Then there is Firmino, Sadio Mane, Divock Origi who Brighton were linked with in the summer… basically, Liverpool have an array of attacking talent.
The betting value for Brighton v Liverpool
This is a game that should have goals and the bookies seem to have realised that so there is little point piling into the both teams to score market.
Instead, there is value to be had from identifying who the Albion’s potential scorer might be. Following his cool-as-ice finish at Villa Park, we fancy Danny Welbeck to get involved again and he looks decent value at 3/1 to net anytime.
All the time that Brighton are conceding goals from set pieces, we will keep using our match preview to bang the drum of picking an opposition centre back to score – and on this occasion, Joel Matip looks like a good Liverpool option at 12/1.
An interesting subplot
Lallana’s injury has rather ruined this part of our Brighton v Liverpool preview. The playmaker is still held in very high regard by Klopp and the Reds and it would have been fascinating to see how they dealt with an individual they know so well.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Liverpool at home
Jimmy Case’s Brighton testimonial took place against Liverpool in 1994. Such was Case’s standing in the game that he was able to call upon a whole host of guest players to turn out at the Goldstone, including Matt Le Tissier in a Brighton shirt.
We have no recollection of the score, only that it was an absolute thrill to see one of the most entertaining players in the country pulling on the blue and white stripes.
Case managed to avoid being sent off for being deaf as well, which was a bonus given his experience away at Leicester City in the League Cup a few weeks earlier.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Liverpool at home
Three Premier League games against Liverpool. Three defeats. Take your pick.
Liverpool’s most famous fan
Unsurprisingly given that they are one of the world’s biggest clubs, Liverpool have an incredible list of celebrity fans. Brad Pitt, Daniel Craig, Elvis Costello, Samuel L Jackson, Liam Neeson and former WWE Champion Sheamus are names which just scratch the surface of the Reds’ famous supporters.
Prediction
Klopp might think that his very, very, very tired Liverpool would be better off just giving the three points to Brighton but his Reds side shorn of several key players should still be good enough to defeat the Albion. Brighton 1-2 Liverpool is our match preview prediction.
