Jack Hinshelwood netted a 85th-minute winner as Brighton fought back to defeat Liverpool 3-2 and climb to eighth in the Premier League table.
Hinshelwood turned in Matt O’Riley’s low 85th-minute cross to seal a comeback win albeit after a Video-Assistant Referee (VAR) review gave the winner, with O’Riley having initially been flagged offside by the linesman.
Harvey Elliott had fired Liverpool into a ninth-minute lead before Yasin Ayari neatly pulled Brighton level with a 32nd-minute effort from Brajan Gruda’s cross.
Dominik Szoboszlai restored Liverpool’s lead on the cusp of half-time with an unintended dinking cross-turned-strike into the far-left corner.
Kaoru Mitoma then pulled Brighton level for the second time with a 69th-minute rebound strike after Danny Welbeck’s shot had been blocked by Alisson.
Brighton now sit eighth with a game left in the season, whilst Liverpool are already champions but their lead over second-placed Arsenal was trimmed to 12 points.
With European qualification via a potential eighth-placed finish now out of their hands following Crystal Palace’s FA Cup triumph, Brighton simply needed to just focus on securing eighth place and rely on results elsewhere going in their favour come end of season.
That task almost got off to a nightmare start after Cody Gakpo broke into the box from the left just 50 seconds into the game, but the Liverpool winger dragged his shot wide of the bottom-right corner.
Brighton however didn’t heed that warning as Liverpool counter-attacked from an eighth-minute foul on Brajan Gruda, which saw Salah fire straight into Bart Verbruggen’s arms.
Having got lucky twice in the opening minutes, Brighton were caught out barely a minute later as Szoboszlai’s long cross from left to right found Salah to slip through for the overlapping Conor Bradley to cut back for Elliott to fire the Champions ahead.
Liverpool soon found themselves under pressure from Fabian Hürzeler’s Seagulls as Simon Adingra’s 11th-minute shot for Brighton was deflected over the bar, before Pervis Estupinan blasted over from a corner clearance.
Brighton’s improved pressure eventually paid off as Gruda played a direct cross forward which Ayari latched onto, and the Swede calmly rolled his strike into the bottom-left corner to pull the Seagulls level.
Both teams looked set to enter half-time level until Elliott played a short pass to Szoboszlai on the right in the first minute of injury-time, which led the Hungarian midfielder to unexpectedly curl his dinking cross into the far-left corner to restore the Reds’ lead at the break.
Szoboszlai’s shock goal however motived Brighton early in the second half to chase an equaliser yet Alisson crucially blocked Welbeck’s free-kick, after Adingra had been tripped by Ryan Gravenberch.
Gruda and Welbeck saw further chances denied by Alisson, whilst Salah dragged a 54th-minute shot wide from Gakpo’s pass as the visitors tried to extend their lead.
Liverpool missed a huge chance to move closer to victory in the 63rd minute through Gakpo’s high shot from Salah’s lay-off pass.
That chance soon haunted Arne Slot’s Reds a mere six minutes later as substitute, Mitoma teed up Welbeck to shoot from close range, yet Alisson deflected his shot away for Mitoma to smash in on a bouncing volley with his left-footed strike to restore parity once more.
Brighton soon looked the more likely to snatch a winner as Hürzeler sent on Hinshelwood and the midfielder’s debuting cousin, Harry Howell in the 84th minute.
That gamble paid off a minute later as O’Riley teed up Hinshelwood to turn his low cross in at the right post to seal a comeback victory, albeit after a VAR review concerning O’Riley’s initial position.
Hinshelwood post-match explained to Sky Sports that he was relieved to be awarded the winner following VAR’s review.
“I think the ball comes across and it sat up perfectly and I tapped it in. There was a nervous wait until the goal was allowed but when it was allowed it was pure relief.”
Hinshelwood added that he was happy to get the chance to come on as a substitute alongside his cousin, Howell who was making his first senior appearance, having been an unused sub in the last two matches.
“It was a really nice moment coming on with my cousin. We’ve been working so hard since we were kids. Playing together since we were just born kicking balls with each other, so to come on together and he made a great run across the front post to open the gap for me, so I’ll be thanking him later.”
Brighton now have eighth in their own hands going into the final day of the season, meaning that Bournemouth must win their last two games to stand any chance of snatching that position if the Seagulls fail to win at Tottenham.
What’s Next?
Brighton head to Tottenham on Sunday 25 May at 4pm BST in their final game of the season in need of a win coupled with defeat for Bournemouth in the Cherries’ last two games to secure eighth.
Liverpool will also be in action at the same time as they host FA Cup champions, Palace at Anfield in their final home game of the season.
Teams
Brighton: Bart Verbruggen, Mats Wieffer, Jan Paul van Hecke, Adam Webster, Pervis Estupinan, Carlos Baleba, Yasin Ayari (Gomez 74′), Yankuba Minteh (Hinshelwood 84′), Brajan Gruda (O’Riley 73′), Simon Adingra (Mitoma 65′), Danny Welbeck (Howell 84′)
Substitutes: Lewis Dunk, Diego Gomez, Jack Hinshelwood, Harry Howell, Kaoru Mitoma, Matt O’Riley, Carl Rushworth, Joel Veltman, Igor Julio
Liverpool: Alisson, Conor Bradley (Endo 77′), Jarell Quansah, Ibrahima Konate, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai (Jones 64′), Mohamed Salah, Harvey Elliott, Cody Gakpo (Diaz 63′), Federico Chiesa (Nunez 63′)
Substitutes: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz, Wataru Endo, Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Caoimhin Kelleher, Darwin Nunez, Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk
Referee – Andy Madley
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