Kaoru Mitoma’s injury-time winner saw Brighton eliminate title holders, Liverpool 2-1 at AMEX Stadium in Fourth Round of 2022-23 FA Cup.
Mitoma smashed in from Pervis Estupinan’s return injury-time cross to secure a shock victory over the reigning title holders and complete a dramatic comeback.
Harvey Elliott had initially put Liverpool ahead from a 30th minute pass by Mohamed Salah, but Brighton equalised nine minutes later after Lewis Dunk struck a close-range strike as he pounced upon Alisson’s clearance of Tariq Lamptey’s powerful strike.
Brighton will now be in the Fifth Round draw on Monday 30 January, whilst Liverpool’s sole trophy hope for this season now lies in UEFA Champions League.
Having thrashed Liverpool at the AMEX Stadium in their Premier League clash a fortnight ago, Brighton this time found themselves tested early on as Jason Steele and Lewis Dunk made rapid blocks to deny Salah just four minutes in.
Elliott then pounced upon a scrappy seventh minute corner clearance but his shot was saved by Steele as Liverpool continued to pile on early pressure.
Brighton soon afterward began to enjoy a positive spell of possession as Solly March produced a 15th minute cutback to Evan Ferguson, who initially fumbled his planned shot only for Trent Alexander-Arnold to clear his second attempt on the goal line.
March one minute later curled wide from Pascal Gross’ pass before Kaoru Mitoma played a 21st minute one-two move with Ferguson, only for the Japanese international to blast his shot straight into Alisson’s arms.
Liverpool meanwhile continued to make the best of their own chances at the other end as Salah dragged a 25th minute shot wide across goal, evading the bottom-right corner.
Cody Gakpo three minutes later tried to tee up Salah but Lamptey deflected his pass into Steele’s arms.
Brighton’s high-line defence however was punished on the half-hour mark as Salah broke forward up the right at pace, and found Elliott unmarked to step into space to flick his pass calmly across into the bottom-left corner to put the Reds in front.
Liverpool however are yet to keep three consecutive clean sheets in all competitions and Brighton eventually broke through in the 39th minute, as Alexis Mac Allister’s cross was deflected by Alexander-Arnold’s headed clearance to Lamptey who rifled in a powerful shot beyond Allison’s reach.
Dunk however was alert and got the final touch to claim his first goal of the season in all competitions and restore parity into half-time, as Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls found momentum but lacked a clear-cut chance to go into the break in front.
That momentum continued early in the second half as Mac Allister forced a foul from Gakpo just three minutes after the break, but Dunk curled the tame free-kick marginally over the top-right corner.
Mitoma then saw a 55th minute cutback cross deflected down for March who laid off for Gross, yet the German blasted over from close-range.
Liverpool meanwhile struggled to create many decent clear-cut chances for much of the second half except for a 57th minute cross from Alexander-Arnold, which Salah flicked wide at the left-post.
Mitoma and March combined for Brighton in the 71st minute as the Japanese winger curled in a superb cross, which found March to fire upon goal only for Alisson to make a crucial block with the ball rebounding back into March who could only ricochet his second attempt wide.
Liverpool eventually were lucky to not only nearly salvage a replay back at Anfield but also finish with 11 men on the pitch, as Ibrahima Konate and Fabinho were lucky to escape without red cards after fouls on Mac Allister and Ferguson respectively.
Konate tugged Mac Allister to ground in the 81st minute and denied the Argentinian a goalscoring opportunity yet referee, David Coote refused to award a free-kick nor red card for the French defender.
Fabinho four minutes later launched a reckless tackle from behind upon Ferguson which forced the young striker off, whilst the Brazilian escaped with a yellow card booking despite replays showing the severity of his actions.
Brighton though would have the last laugh in the second minute of injury time as Robertson fouled Mac Allister, from which Gross curled a free-kick across to Estupinan on the left and the Ecuadorian lifted his cross across the box for Mitoma to lash in from close-range and eliminate Liverpool.
Speaking post-match to ITV, Dunk admitted that Brighton weren’t at their best as he said: “Sometimes you have to win a game like that. We weren’t great today but managed to grind it out against a top side.
“They are top players and top strikers, especially after the win 15 days ago when we were very good and beat them.
“We knew they wanted to come back but we dug in. We feel like we can beat anyone on our best days and we showed here we can do it on our not so good days. We just need to keep pushing on.”
What’s Next?
Brighton resume their league campaign on Saturday 4 February with a home clash against Bournemouth in a 3pm GMT kick-off.
Liverpool meanwhile visit relegation battling Wolves at Molineux at the same time on 4 February, just weeks after Elliott had gifted them a replay winner in the Third Round.
Teams
Brighton: Jason Steele, Tariq Lamptey (Van Hecke 90+6′), Adam Webster (Veltman 45′), Lewis Dunk, Pervis Estupinan, Pascal Gross, Alexis Mac Allister, Solly March, Danny Welbeck (Gilmour 67′), Kaoru Mitoma, Evan Ferguson (Undav 89′)
Substitutes: Robert Sanchez, Jeremy Sarmiento, Julio Enciso, Deniz Undav, Billy Gilmour, Jan Paul Van Hecke, Joel Veltman, Andrew Moran, Jack Hinshelwood
Liverpool: Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold (Milner 59′), Ibrahima Konate, Joe Gomez, Andrew Robertson, Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara (Jones 79′), Naby Keita (Henderson 59′), Harvey Elliott (Nunez 59′), Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo
Substitutes: Caiomhin Kelleher, Fabinho, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Darwin Nunez, Joel Matip
Referee: David Coote