MY ACCOUNT
As 2022-23 kicked off, few would have predicted that within just two months Brighton, without Graham Potter in charge, would be heading to Liverpool sitting higher than the Reds in the table.
After six Premier League games, the south coast side are fourth with 13 points on the board after impressive victories over Manchester United, West Ham and Leicester.
Liverpool’s results have raised eyebrows for all the wrong reasons and they surprisingly sit down in eighth place.
Klopp’s men are only on nine points after draws against Fulham, Crystal Palace and Everton and a defeat to Manchester United, while they also suffered a humiliating 4-1 loss at Napoli in the Champions League.
However, the international break feels like it could prove a big moment in the trajectories of both clubs.
For Liverpool, a pause to recover from some injuries, regroup and refocus could be just what they need in order to get their campaign up and running.
For Brighton, it marks the end of Potter’s impressive three-year tenure at the Amex Stadium and a plunge into the unknown under new manager Roberto De Zerbi.
Team news
Though there is light at the end of the tunnel for Liverpool as a host of players work their way back to fitness, several are still absent this weekend.
Midfielders Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones are all still out and while youngster Calvin Ramsay is close to fitness, the right-back looks set to miss out against Brighton.
Left-back Andrew Robertson is also missing with a knee injury but centre-back Ibrahima Konate is back in training and may be ready to return to the squad.
Captain Jordan Henderson has recovered from the hamstring injury that has kept him out for the last three games.
De Zerbi also has a few absentees to contend with when he names his first Brigton XI, with long-term injury victim Jakub Moder out until the new year and Jeremy Sarmiento a doubt despite featuring for Ecuador during the international break.
Midfielder Enock Mwepu fell ill while with national side Zambia and was hospitalised for several days so is likely to miss out but there is better news for Adam Lallana, with the former Liverpool midfielder returning to training this week following his calf injury.
The stats
Brighton have taken four points from their last two trips to Anfield, beating Liverpool 1-0 in 2020-21 and following up with a 2-2 draw last season.
That point at Anfield last term was no freak outlier, either, with the Seagulls showing up impressively during their trips to the top teams in the past year.
Brighton have already won at Old Trafford this season and last term won at Arsenal and Tottenham while taking a point at both Chelsea and Liverpool.
However, while Klopp’s side have got off to a poor start both domestically and in Europe, their bad results have almost exclusively come on the road.
Indeed, Liverpool have yet to win away this term — losing at Napoli and Manchester United and drawing at Fulham and Everton — but at home they have beaten Ajax and Newcastle 2-1 and thrashed Bournemouth 9-0.
Their only slip-up at Anfield came in the form of a 1-1 draw against a Palace side whose counter-attacking style is ideally suited to picking up shock results on the road.
More important to the Liverpool manager will be the fact that his side have not lost any of their last 26 Premier League home games, winning 20 of those.
Prediction
Few games this season will have as much uncertainty shrouding them as this Saturday afternoon meeting between Liverpool and Brighton.
Liverpool are the big name with an incredible home record but their poor form makes them harder to trust than usual.
And while they face a Brighton team with a recent track record of pulling off impressive away results, the Seagulls are also something of an unknown quantity following the departure of much-loved manager Potter.
They were a persistent menace to the top teams last term, picking up three wins and four draws in 10 games against the big six.
But whether that will continue in the absence of Potter is open to question. De Zebri looks a good replacement having enjoyed similar underdog success in Serie A with Sassuolo and playing a comparable style of football, but it remains guesswork as to how well he will fit in on the south coast.
Initially, however, it is likely that Brighton will continue to play a similar style as they did under Potter and to a high level as the players look to impress their new boss.
Liverpool look like slightly shaky favourites at present and it might prove the case that Brighton again nick a point away at one of the big boys.
