Brighton boss Hurzeler will be out for a measure of revenge at Anfield today. — Reuters
BRIGHTON & Hove Albion will get a second shot at Liverpool within three days as they bid to turn the tables on their league rivals and erase the memory of the narrow defeat they suffered at Falmer Stadium on the south coast of England in midweek.
Liverpool edged out Brighton 3-2 in the Carabao League Cup fourth round tie on Wednesday, and the Seagulls will be relishing the opportunity for payback so soon after they crashed out of the cup competition.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot said after that victory that he was pleased with the commitment and performance of the side that he sent out – it had eight changes to the line-up that drew with Arsenal last Sunday.
One would expect that Slot would make further changes today and bring back a few of the lads who missed the cup game.
Goalkeeper Caolmhin Kelleher and defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk are almost certain to return to the squad and starting XI, as are Ibrahima Konate, Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah, who came off the bench in Brighton.
Slot might yet use Cody Gakpo from the get-go, given his two goals helped them past Brighton in midweek, and retain Luis Diaz ahead of Darwin Nunez, who saw action in the last 20-odd minutes in midweek.
Brighton are up to sixth in the Premiership standings, a position they more than deserve.
This is a solid side with some real talent, and one that can hurt any outfit in this league.
Prior to the hard-earned draw with Wolves last weekend, Brighton beat both Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur in successive weekends. That’s no mean feat when one considers that these sides – although a little off colour recently – are genuine top six contenders.
Tottenham are in the Europa League this season, and Newcastle are just six points off fourth place, the last Champions League spot, with three-quarters of the season still to go.
Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler will again be looking to the likes of Yankuba Minteh, Mats Wieffer, Lewis Dunk and Joao Pedro to see them through the Anfield test.
It won’t be easy on Merseyside, not by a long shot, but Brighton will know they can upset Liverpool at home, more so after the five-goal nail-biting thriller in the midweek cup game.
