Brighton continued their impressive form with a shock 1-0 win away to Liverpool on Wednesday night courtesy of a deflected Steven Alzate goal.
The south coast side kept their fourth clean sheet in a row as they held on for a massive three points to lift them away from the bottom three.
Losing this game seriously hampers Liverpool’s chances of retaining the title, as they drift further away from Manchester City in the top spot.
Having gone 68 games without a league defeat at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’s side have now also lost back-to-back games there following a 1-0 by Burnley too on January 21.
Brighton boss Graham Potter made two changes to his side that started against their 1-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday.
Dan Burn and Alzate stepped in for the injured pairing of Alexis MacAllister and Joel Veltman.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also made two changes for this game after their dominant 3-1 win at West Ham.
Back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher came in for Alisson Becker who was out with a non-related Covid-19 illness, while Roberto Firmino replaced Divock Origi up front.
The first half saw neither side create any clear-cut chances. Liverpool dominated possession but struggled to expose the well-organised Brighton defence.
The first chance of the game fell to Liverpool’s Mo Salah in the third minute. The Egyptian found space behind Brighton’s defence with a well-timed diagonal run, but he saw his lobbed shot sail over the bar.
Brighton’s best goal scoring opportunity of the first half dropped to defender Burn. The chance came after Neal Maupay’s deflected effort fell to Burn 12 yards out but his strike failed to test Kelleher between the sticks.
On the stroke of half-time Maupay had another opportunity to put Brighton ahead. The ball was set back to Pascal Gross whose cross fell to the French striker, but his header was mistimed and went well wide of the goal.
Ten minutes into the second half saw Brighton take a surprising lead at Anfield.
Solly March’s cross found Burn at the back post, who cleverly nodded it back across goal for Alzate to finish from 12 yards out.
Going behind didn’t change the course of the game as Liverpool continued to press Brighton.
Fifteen minutes later Salah nearly found an equaliser for Klopp’s side. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cut back found the forward in space, but yet again saw his effort sail over the bar.
Shortly after, Brighton very nearly doubled their lead. Gross saw his drilled effort well saved by Kelleher – who parried it into danger. Fortunately, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson saved the keeper from embarrassment as he was the quickest to react to clear the danger.
With Liverpool committing men forward, Brighton looked dangerous on the counter-attack with the pace of Leandro Trossard worrying the Liverpool back line.
After beating the Liverpool high line, the Belgian forward wriggled himself some room, but his shot was straight down the throat of Kelleher.
Liverpool continued to pressure Brighton in the last 20 minutes of the game but lacked the creativity to carve out an opportunity to equalise.
The game ended 1-0 to the Seagulls with the shock win huge for their survival hopes as they now go 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
But the loss for Liverpool now means they are seven points adrift of first place Manchester City who still have a game in hand too. Those two teams meet in a mammoth clash on Sunday afternoon at Anfield.
By Liam Davies
