Match Preview: Liverpool vs Brighton - Key battles, team news, prediction

Brighton and Hove Albion will welcome Liverpool to the Amex Stadium on Saturday. The Premier League clash will kick-off at 12:30 local time.

Liverpool go into the match having lost 1-0 to Inter Milan at Anfield (last-16, second leg, Champions League) midweek. However, the defeat was irrelevant come the final whistle.

The Reds still progressed to the quarter-finals, as they defeated the Serie A side 2-1 on aggregate.

Brighton on the other hand suffered a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United at St James' Park (Premier League) last weekend.

Key Battle:

Liverpool have only scored one goal in their previous two fixtures (West Ham United and Inter Milan).

Therefore, if they are to claim the three points against Brighton, they will have to be sharper in attack.

The Seagulls' defence has not been terrible this season. Brighton have only conceded 32 goals in 27 Premier League fixtures.

With that being the case, the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz will have to work hard to score.

Team News:

In team news for Liverpool, Roberto Firmino appears to be fully fit again. The forward was spotted at training yesterday, which does suggest that he is a fair chance to feature against Brighton.

Firmino suffered a muscle injury back in mid-February. However, Ibrahima Konate could miss the clash against the Seagulls.

The centre-back did not feature against Inter Milan midweek due to a knock. We don't know how serious Konate's injury is.

In terms of Brighton, centre-back Adam Webster will not play against Liverpool due to a groin injury. The 27-year-old has been performing well for the Seagulls this season.

Webster has been averaging a WhoScored player rating of 6.89 in the Premier League. Therefore, he will be a miss for Brighton.

Liverpool's predicted XI can be found here.

Previous PL Meeting:

Liverpool dropped two points against Brighton last time round. The two sides met at Anfield back in October 2021.

Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane gave the Reds a 2-0 lead after 24 minutes. However, the Seagulls fought back.

Both Enock Mwepu and Leandro Trossard scored to level the game up after 65 minutes. The Premier League match ended in a 2-2 draw.

Klopp was certainly not happy with the result.

"It feels like a defeat even though I know it’s not a defeat," the German told the club's official website post-match.

"It is a deserved point for Brighton, obviously, for different reasons. It’s unnecessary because in our good moments we were really good, we showed how you have to play against Brighton but then with not playing enough football anymore, we opened the door for them."

Klopp added: "I could see in the second half, I was not overly happy with the body language of some [players] and that’s obviously then never helpful, but you can get through these periods in a game – but just not against Brighton because they were here to get a result, they got a result, they deserve it and that’s it."

Prediction:

If Liverpool can play anywhere near their best, they should defeat Brighton.

Klopp's side sit in second-place on the Premier League table. Graham Potter's team on the other hand sit in 13th-place on the table. Liverpool are 30 points ahead of Brighton.

The aforementioned figures highlight that the Reds are a far better side than the Seagulls. But, as we saw last time, Brighton are more than capable of causing an upset.

But, we are still backing Liverpool to get the job done. They have the attacking talent to expose any side in world football.

Liverpool 3 Brighton and Hove Albion 1