Liverpool will look to build on their success in the Champions League in midweek as they travel to the AMEX Stadium to take on Brighton in the lunchtime kickoff on Saturday.
Liverpool dropped points for the second consecutive match in the Premier League last Sunday, as a late Richarlison goal saw the Reds draw 1-1 at home to struggling Tottenham.
Nevertheless, that point moved them above Chelsea into fifth position in the Premier League table and put them within two points of Aston Villa in fourth.
However, Arne Slot’s men managed to overturn a one-goal deficit in their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday night, as they thrashed reigning Turkish champions Galatasaray 4-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals – on an evening I landed a couple of winners.
Brighton bounced back from their 0-1 defeat at home to Premier League leaders Arsenal by claiming a 0-1 victory themselves last weekend, defeating newly-promoted Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Fabian Hurzeler’s hosts have now won three of their previous four Premier League outings, moving them up to 12th position, just three points behind Everton in eighth.
How the bookies view it: Liverpool favourites
Despite dropping points in each of their past two Premier League outings, Liverpool have been installed as favourites for this clash, with bet365 pricing an away win at 6/5.
Brighton are 21/10 to make it four wins from their last five Premier League matches, whilst the draw is 13/5.
Head to head: Reds with the recent upper hand
Liverpool have been victorious in five of their previous six meetings with Brighton, including back-to-back wins at Anfield in the Premier League and the FA Cup this season.
However, the Reds have won on just one of their past five visits to the Amex, losing three of them (W1-D1-L3).
Players to watch: Szoboszlai to star again?
Dominik Szoboszlai followed up one of his trademark free-kicks against Spurs last weekend by scoring the opener in their 4-0 thrashing of Galatasaray in midweek.
The Hungarian skipper has now scored seven goals and provided three assists across his previous 15 appearances for the Reds – including a goal when these two sides met in the FA Cup last month – and is an appealing 8/5 at bet365 to Score or Assist on Saturday.
Backed a player to find the net? Check our Goalscorer Betting guide to see how the markets work and where to find value.
Predicted line-ups:
Brighton will be missing Adam Webster and Stefanos Tzimas due to injury, but Carlos Baleba and Kaoru Mitoma may return.
Liverpool will still be missing Giovanni Leoni, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and Alexander Isak through injury, whilst Mo Salah is a doubt.
Brighton & Hove Albion: Verbruggen, Wieffer, Van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu, Baleba, Gross, Hinshelwood, Gomez, Minteh, Welbeck
Liverpool: Alisson, Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike
Anything else catch the eye?
Liverpool’s matches have been a nightmare to predict this season, given they have been consistently inconsistent, and the same could be said about Brighton.
Therefore, I’m happy to skip the WDW and the goal markets and focus on a couple of Brighton players to be carded.
Seagulls skipper Lewis Dunk has been carded 10 times this season – including in both meetings with Arne Slot’s side – whilst Diego Gomez has had his name taken in the referee’s notebook eight times, with four of those coming across his last seven appearances.
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