BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION VS. LIVERPOOL
| Saturday, March 21st |
Premier League | AmEx Stadium
12:30PM BST/8:30AM EST
In bad news for the Reds, the tricky attacker Kaoru Mitoma will be available for Brighton, who have no new fitness concerns ahead of Saturday’s match.
The Seagulls come into this one with optimism, having experienced a notably positive (and raucous) atmosphere at home in recent matches. Though the early kick-off might quiet the boisterousness, Brighton’s decent recent results and improved performance levels have taken the edge
off for the crowd. Though they have lost two of their last four matches, one of those losses was the FA Cup loss against Liverpool, and the most recent loss was a narrow 1-0 loss to league leaders Arsenal — and the Premier League have since said that Brighton should have had a penalty in that match.
Though Liverpool will be pleased especially with their goal output on Wednesday night, it’s worth noting Brighton have been a strong defensive team of late. They have conceded seven goals in their last eight games, with three of those against the Reds in domestic cup play. In recent weeks Brighton have come to expect matches won or lost on narrow margins, with 1-0 or 2-1 wins becoming their norm. Though the Reds created great chances against Galatasaray (it was a 4-0 scoreline that deeply flattered the visitors), Brighton should prove more of a challenge for Liverpool’s likely tired legs.
In attack we are familiar with the threat of Mitoma, but Yankuba Minteh has also been a real threat for Brighton this season. Though he’s excellent in linking the attack, he is also very dangerous when going direct: he has the second-most successful dribbles in the league this season, behind only Manchester City’s Jérémy Doku. Pascal Gross has been consistent in his orchestration, and Liverpool will need especially to disrupt Gross should they hope to leave the seaside with all three points.
Though the Reds confidently dispatched Brighton to progress in the FA Cup, the Seagulls have won two of the last three Premier League matches against Liverpool, drawing the third. Prior to this recent run, Brighton had only won one of the previous 13, drawing six. The Seagulls triumphed 2-0 at Anfield, though the win did come in the midst of Liverpool’s shocking December form.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Alisson; Szoboszlai, Konaté, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones; Frimpong, Ekitiké, Wirtz
With Mohamed Salah sidelined with a rare muscle injury, Arne Slot will have to rotate his attack in the quick turnaround between Wednesday and Saturday’s early kick-off. Slot could rearrange a front three of those available, but might also choose to play the ever-useful Dominik Szoboszlai in defense to allow Jeremie Frimpong to take the place of the Egyptian. Should the Liverpool coach make this choice, Curtis Jones could see a rare league start in the middle of the park, or Slot could select all of Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, and Hugo Ekitiké.
Joe Gomez was an unused substitute against Galatasaray with his fitness being less than 100% — Slot has confirmed that his inclusion on the bench was a mixture of “in case of a miracle” and as an absolute break-glass option should the match have required extra time. Gomez will be available against Brighton, but will not be available to start. The chat seems to suggest that playing Gomez for any extended period is almost certain to result in an injury to the player, which is unfortunate as Slot might have preferred to start Gomez at right back to allow Frimpong to stand in for Salah in the simplest possible swap.
Of course, there is no guarantee that Frimpong himself will be available from the start on Saturday, with Slot noting that his explosiveness in terms of sprints and other labor might make it risky to ask him to go again in such a short turnaround. Though the Reds have no new injury concerns other than Salah, the frankly annoying choice to make Liverpool play in Jürgen Klopp’s favorite early window has certainly given the present boss a headache.
Liverpool (finally) played well on Wednesday night, perhaps turning the boos against Tottenham into fodder to become a serious footballing outfit once again. Given the quality of the performance, Slot might want to go into this one as unchanged as possible, though the annoyingly quick turnaround into the early kick-off (in addition to a trip to the south) might cause selection preference to bow to player fitness concerns. Though the limited time between matches is an issue, it’s important to note that after this match the international break will pose its own variable potential for either rest or tireless travel and playing time.
The Reds looked much more themselves for once, which does lend optimism for Saturday’s potential exploits. This sense of optimism frankly makes it all the more frustrating that the Premier League has decided upon a schedule that allows the Reds just 62 hours of rest between Wednesday and Saturday — a decision you’d never see in any of Europe’s other leagues, which seem to want to encourage the best physical performances from their sides rather than bow to the interests of the broadcasting company preferences.
The Managers Have Their Say
Arne Slot: “…Brighton has always been a team, with their former managers and definitely with this manager as well, who always want to play, who always want to bring the ball out from the back, who are going to make it a very intense game because they’ve also seen how intense our game was, with their fans behind them. So, we’ve played them already twice this season and both games were fascinating, interesting, high tempo, high pace because we faced a team that wanted to play with us.”
Fabian Hürzeler: “I think we all know Liverpool are still one of the best teams with incredible individual quality. They always can have these special nights, especially at Anfield, and I think they came into a flow. When Liverpool comes into a flow, then it gets difficult for every team. So our responsibility is to not let them get into the flow. We need to be prepared. We need to be intense. We play at home, we play in front of our fans and therefore we are looking forward to it.”
The Officials
Referee: Darren England Assistants: Scott Ledger, Akil Howson Fourth official: Tim Robinson VAR: James Bell Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes
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