Liverpool meet Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield in a crucial Premier League clash in the race for a top-five spot.
Locked on 23 points apiece and separated by goal difference in tenth and eighth positions, victory would see either Liverpool or Brighton climb to fifth.
Team News
Conor Bradley is suspended for Liverpool after he picked up his fifth domestic booking of the season in their 3-3 draw at Leeds last weekend.
Cody Gakpo picked up an unspecified injury in that match and missed their 1-0 Champions League victory at Inter Milan in midweek, with the injury now ruling him out of this game too.
Mohamed Salah remains unlikely to be involved after he missed the trip to Inter for personal reasons, but will be present at Anfield to say farewell to the home crowd before he heads off to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Federico Chiesa (illness) and Wataru Endo (knock) could return but Jeremie Frimpong (hamstring) and Giovanni Leoni (ACL) remain absent.
Brighton could welcome Yasin Ayari and James Milner back from muscle injuries, whilst Kaoru Mitoma (foot) is too in contention.
Stefanos Tzimas (ACL), Solly March and Adam Webster (both knee) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Liverpool host Brighton at Anfield on Saturday 13 December at 3pm GMT, albeit untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Liverpool have claimed seven points in their last five league meetings against Brighton (W2, D1, L2).
- Brighton have won one of their eight previous Premier League trips to Liverpool at Anfield (W1, D2, L5).
- Mohamed Salah has scored in Liverpool’s last two league games at home to Brighton, which both ended in 2-1 wins for the Reds.
- Liverpool have kept just one top-flight disciplinary clean sheet at home this season, which came in a 2-1 defeat against Manchester United in October.
- No Brighton player has produced more shot-creating actions this season than Yankuba Minteh (52).
Prediction
Unbeaten in their last four games in all competitions with two wins and draws apiece, Liverpool do seem to have turned a corner but they now need to start finding winning consistency if want to properly get back on track and push for the top four.
Arne Slot was brave in making a change of formation to 4-1-2-1-2 diamond at Inter Milan and given that they dominated large parts of that game even though the open-play end product wasn’t clinical, I expect him to stick with it here because patience and adaption will be key if this is his new approach.
Brighton though are in strong form but disappointingly lacked their creative and clinical sparks in their 1-1 draw against West Ham last Sunday, so I would expect a response here but defensive play has to be the priority initially if want to tactically get on top of the Reds.
I however do expect this to be another close game between the pair like it was in their last meeting back in May albeit at Brighton, and a draw might be the best guess this time.
Prediction: Liverpool 1-1 Brighton
Result: Liverpool 2-0 Brighton
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