Liverpool face critical week in the hope of retaining the Premier League title

 

Liverpool welcome Brighton & Hove Albion to Anfield on Wednesday night, as they look to make it three wins in a row in the Premier League for the first time since September.

The smiles are back at Anfield, with Jurgen Klopp’s men appearing back to their best, having won their last two Premier League games 3-1, with both wins coming in the capital. Liverpool faced a well drilled Jose Mourinho side at Tottenham Stadium on Thursday night, with the Reds performance reminiscent of last season which saw Liverpool storm to their first Premier League title.

Another tricky away trip followed with West Ham United awaiting the visit of the champions. After a difficult first half, Liverpool turned on the style in the second racing into a three-goal lead. Mo Salah who is back to his best, opened the scoring with an excellent solo effort, before a goal of brilliance saw the Egyptian double Liverpool’s lead. Georginio Wijnaldum grabbed the third to seal the victory.

After taking six points in a week, Liverpool move back up to third only four points behind league leaders Manchester City. Klopp’s side have comeback into form at just the right time with the two sides set to meet at Anfield on Sunday.

Before the big clash with Man City, Klopp will have to prepare his side for the visit of Brighton & Hove Albion. A side which held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at the Amex back in November.

Brighton will be coming to Anfield with confidence, after securing their first home win of the season beating a poor Tottenham side 1-0 thanks to an early Leandro Trossard goal. A victory which keeps Brighton in 17^th but extends the gap between themselves and the bottom three to seven points.

Prior to the win over Spurs, each of Brighton’s last five Premier League victories had come on their travels, and they have fared better away from home than they have at the Amex this season.

A trip to Anfield is a different proposition than other away grounds. But as Burnley showed last month it is possible to come away with a victory as they ended Liverpool’s 68 home game unbeaten run.

Graham Potters side have only lost once in their last seven games in all competitions, with that only defeat a 1-0 loss, coming at the hands of league leaders Manchester City

Liverpool Team News

Liverpool have a long injury list, and it was made even worse this week with Joel Matip being ruled out for the season with an ankle ligament injury. The list contains the names of Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Diogo Jota and Naby Keita. Also out for the Brighton game are Sadio Mane and Fabinho. There is hope that both players could be fit ahead of Sunday’s game against Manchester City.

James Milner and Xherdan Shaqiri started the game against West Ham but Curtis Jones is expected to start in place of Milner with the 35-year-old playing in the last three games. Shaqiri is expected to keep his place with the absence of Mane. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is expected to be named on the bench but could come into contention to start if Klopp chooses to play him over Jones.

Jordan Henderson and Nat Phillips played well against West Ham and are expected to start at the back against Brighton.

Brighton Team News

Brighton are still without the injured Tariq Lamptey, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Florin Andone and Jose Izquierdo. There will be late fitness checks for goalkeeper Jason Steele and Striker Danny Welbeck to see if they are available for selection.

Last time out

The two sides faced each other earlier in the season, with an injured time equaliser from Pascal Gross grabbing a point for the hosts, in a 1-1 draw.  Neil Maupay had missed a first half penalty before Diego Jota put Liverpool ahead on the hour. Brighton didn’t give up and managed a late equaliser with the points shared at the Amex.