We return to Premier League action ten days since beating Everton when we take on Liverpool at a sold-out Amex on Saturday, kick-off 3pm.
Roberto De Zerbi’s team have been in excellent form – winning four of their last six league games – but the Italian will no doubt want to see an improvement in his side’s home form having picked up four points from his five matches at the Amex.
Eighth-place Albion have played all of the seven teams above them in the table once and have picked up five points from those games. One of those came at Anfield in October, when Roberto was in the Albion dugout for the first time and we secured a point in an enthralling 3-3 draw thanks to Leandro Trossard’s hat-trick.
Liverpool are a point better off than us and Jurgen Klopp’s men know victory on Saturday will move them to within four points of the Champions League places.
Three points for us on the other hand would see us move above Liverpool into seventh and a point behind sixth-place Fulham.
Team news
Roberto De Zerbi said there were no new injury concerns and he has a full squad avaiiable, but the head coach did confirm that Leandro Trossard will not be involved against Liverpool.
Our last meeting
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We took an early 2-0 lead at Anfield in October only for the Reds to impressively respond and go 3-2 up. Trossard was on hand to rescue a point as he became the first player to score a hat-trick by an opposition player at Anfield since Andriy Arshavin in 2009.
Although Albion are unbeaten in their last three visits to Anfield, they have never beaten Liverpool in the Premier League at the Amex. Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 10 away league games against Brighton (W5 D5), winning four of their five visits to the Amex Stadium in the Premier League (D1).
Player to watch
Mohamed Salah continues to be the key player for Liverpool, although his seven goals in 17 Premier League appearances is probably below the return the Egypt international envisaged having at this stage in the campaign. He has, however, shone on the European stage, scoring seven goals in six Champions League group matches. Salah also has a great scoring record against Albion with seven goals, including four at the Amex. He has scored on each of his last three visits to Sussex.
Stats
- Albion have won just one of their 11 Premier League games against Liverpool (D3 L7), a 1-0 victory at Anfield in February 2021.
- Albion converted just 6% of their shots in their first five games under De Zerbi (4/68) but have scored with 21% of their shots in the last six games (17/80).
- Liverpool have lost three of their last seven Premier League games (W4), as many as in their previous 37 games combined (W26 D8). The Reds haven’t started a calendar year with two league defeats in a row since 1993.
- Albion have scored 32 Premier League goals in their 17 games this season, exactly twice as many as they had at this stage in 2021-22 (16). It’s the most we have scored at this stage of a league season since 1976-77 under Alan Mullery (39).
- Liverpool have earned just 28.6% of their Premier League points this season away from home (8/28), the lowest ratio in the division. However, Brighton have won the lowest share of their points in home games this term (41% - 11/27).
- Leandro Trossard has scored five Premier League goals for Brighton against Liverpool, including a hat-trick in the reverse fixture in October. Only Pascal Gross (6 vs Manchester United) has scored more goals for Albion against a specific opponent in the competition.
- Among Brighton players to play at least 250 minutes in the Premier League this season, Kaoru Mitoma averages the most touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes (7.1) and most completed dribbles per 90 (2.2). He could also become the first Japanese player to score in three consecutive Premier League appearances.
- Liverpool will be without the injured Virgil van Dijk for this game – the Reds are, however, unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League games when the Dutchman hasn’t started (W11 D3) since losing 1-0 at home to Fulham in March 2021.
- Evan Ferguson has scored in his last two Premier League appearances – aged 18 years and 87 days on the day of this game, Ferguson could become the third-youngest player to score in three consecutive Premier League appearances, behind Danny Cadamarteri (18 years, 6 days) and Michael Owen (18 years, 12 days). The Irishman would be the youngest non-English player to do so.
Match officials
Referee: Darren England
Assistants: Dan Robathan, Wade Smith
Fourth official: Tim Robinson
VAR: Neil Swarbrick
Assistant VAR: Timothy Wood