Liverpool stand as the only team in the Premier League to have gone the first two matches without giving up a goal. Jurgen Klopp's Reds have been in terrific form to open the season and will hope to continue this in their next match against a Brighton team with serious momentum. Having upset Manchester United last weekend with a 3-2 home victory, the Gulls will hope to claim another head of a top six side.
Team News:
Liverpool are in a strong moment when it comes to injury concerns for the first time in a long while. Aside from the injury of Dejan Lovren, who was curiously called up to the Croatian national side despite the injury for the upcoming international break, and the long-term issues of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's ACL tear and Rhian Brewster's ankle injury, Liverpool are back to full fitness. Of course, transfers are also something the Reds must think about. As I covered yesterday, Loris Karius is set to go off to Besiktas and is a likely miss in terms of making the matchday squad while Ragnar Klavan is off in Italy. Despite the loss of two players in the side, Joel Matip and Fabinho both are back at fitness with Matip beating Fabinho out for a spot on the bench last match and the Reds are not concerned with any other injuries for the first team at the moment.
Brighton, on the other hand, do have a handful of misses that they may worry about. The key doubt for Brighton is center-back Lewis Dunk. Dunk went off injured in just the 20th minute against United and has missed training throughout the week, prompting manager Chris Hughton to call him a "doubt" for the match at Anfield. His replacement would seem to be ex-Mainz man Leon Balogun. The Nigerian national came on for Dunk last week to the tune of a solid outing and has already commented about the match where he tabbed the encounter at Anfield to be "completely different" than the match with United.
In terms of other players, three key players for Brighton remain sidelined as Bruno, Jose Izquierdo, and Florin Andone will all miss the match on Saturday with varying injuries. Bruno, the club captain, came off early in the Gulls opening match against Watford with a hamstring injury and after missing the match against United, he will miss this one too. Jose Izquierdo was a star last season for Brighton as he played some very pretty football, but his leg injury suffered at the World Cup will keep him out for an unspecified amount of time. Finally, new boy Florin Andone continues recovery from a groin injury and continues to miss out on a debut for his new side, having been acquired this summer. There's multiple big misses for Brighton, but their win last weekend shows that they are plenty capable without some of their key men.
Projected Liverpool Line-Up: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Projected Brighton Line-Up: Ryan; Montoya, Duffy, Balogun, Bong; Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, March; Gross; Murray
Previewing the Match:
Liverpool handled their business well in both matches last season against then a newly promoted side, but one of those matches was on the final day of the season with the Gulls already safely in the Premier League for this season. This is a fairly similar side with about four or five players likely to be different in the starting eleven, but their style of play is very much the same. Things are calm around Brighton, it's a positive vibe only buoyed by their upset of Manchester United last weekend, but as center-back Leon Balogun indeed pointed out, it's a stark contrast to go from Mourinho's United to Klopp's Liverpool in just a week.
Brighton are a disciplined side who run a 4-4-1-1 under Chris Hughton. Leading the line is Glenn Murray and right behind him is Pascal Gross, who's been a revelation for the side since signing last season. Gross does brilliantly to get between the defensive lines and pushes forward frequently to make the Brighton formation more of a 4-4-2 as a result with Gross pushing more left and forward as Murray patrols the right. Their true wingers, though, really help make the side work as Solly March on the left and Anthony Knockaert, former Championship Player of the Year, on the right do brilliant work to get forward to provide assistance put also track back so well to allow the outside defensive full-backs to get forward with regularity but also allows them to get a bit narrower in defense if need be. They're a very structured side who does very well to follow instructions set of them but the question to be asked of them is who will step up and score other than 34-year-old Murray? This is not a match concern, per say, but a more general question to be asked as the season progresses.
Liverpool is coming off a tough win against Crystal Palace, and this match I would imagine will be closer to last Monday's match than the matches against Brighton from last season. Brighton was allowed to be on the front foot against United last week, but that won't be the case this match. Still, it's a well-organized side that will need some breaking down. While Liverpool attacked via the wings against Palace, though, I can see the Reds looking to go through the middle as a result and then working the ball on a wing to try and deliver a final ball or cross into the box. Especially with a more inexperienced back line partnership, similar to the opening match with Ryan Fredericks and Fabian Balbuena making their first start across from Sadio Mane, I'm looking for Mo Salah on the right to attack the gaps between Balogun and the left-back, likely Gaetan Bong, as the full-back looks to get foward. Especially if it's Bernardo, I'll be looking for Salah to try and exploit his defensive deficiencies, but I do not expect Hughton to bring Bernardo into the line-up against this fired-up Liverpool side since he's a far more attack-minded full-back.
The final gaze is focused in on the Liverpool defense and the question of whether or not they can continue their two-match clean sheet run. Joel Matip is back at full fitness but the question of whether or not to ruin a good thing in Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez is a good idea. Gomez is a center-back of the future for Klopp and Liverpool and he's impressed fans of the side. Trust needs to fall on the full-backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, to do their job of slowing down the wings. If they can do that with success, the supply line that comes from them shuts down and allows the center-back duo to focus on shutting down Murray as the lone striker and snuffing out any runs that Gross may make if the wingers try to take the Robertson out wide and leave space between he and van Dijk. The key match-up, then, will likely be Glenn Murray and Joe Gomez as Gomez will need to be up to the task of slowing down Murray who does well to play physically and has won nine duels in the air in the first two matches. It's up to the Liverpool defense to allow the attack to have the freedom to get forward and not worry about any defensive concerns. And that trust has only been growing over the course of last season and now this.
Final Thoughts:
If you would have asked me before the season which of the first four matches before their trip to Tottenham would be a most likely victory, this would be the match I'd have chosen. Now though, with the performance of the Gulls against United, questions are certainly going to be raised about who's going to walk out of Anfield in better shape.
Score Prediction: Liverpool 3: Brighton and Hove Albion 0:
That said, I'm still going to pick a comfortable victory for Liverpool. I think the play type of Mourinho's United really invites Brighton's strengths to be utilized, that won't be the case for Liverpool. I think you'll see similar possession stats as Brighton/United (66.6/33.4 to United) but in that possession Liverpool will do more attacking with it as opposed to United, on occasion, allowing Brighton to be on the front foot even a bit in the second half when down to try and open up a counter attack. The pressure will be too much and I favor Liverpool's defensive abilities to hold up against this Brighton side and give the Anfield crowd a positive result.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for more LFC coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
Team News:
Liverpool are in a strong moment when it comes to injury concerns for the first time in a long while. Aside from the injury of Dejan Lovren, who was curiously called up to the Croatian national side despite the injury for the upcoming international break, and the long-term issues of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's ACL tear and Rhian Brewster's ankle injury, Liverpool are back to full fitness. Of course, transfers are also something the Reds must think about. As I covered yesterday, Loris Karius is set to go off to Besiktas and is a likely miss in terms of making the matchday squad while Ragnar Klavan is off in Italy. Despite the loss of two players in the side, Joel Matip and Fabinho both are back at fitness with Matip beating Fabinho out for a spot on the bench last match and the Reds are not concerned with any other injuries for the first team at the moment.
Brighton, on the other hand, do have a handful of misses that they may worry about. The key doubt for Brighton is center-back Lewis Dunk. Dunk went off injured in just the 20th minute against United and has missed training throughout the week, prompting manager Chris Hughton to call him a "doubt" for the match at Anfield. His replacement would seem to be ex-Mainz man Leon Balogun. The Nigerian national came on for Dunk last week to the tune of a solid outing and has already commented about the match where he tabbed the encounter at Anfield to be "completely different" than the match with United.
In terms of other players, three key players for Brighton remain sidelined as Bruno, Jose Izquierdo, and Florin Andone will all miss the match on Saturday with varying injuries. Bruno, the club captain, came off early in the Gulls opening match against Watford with a hamstring injury and after missing the match against United, he will miss this one too. Jose Izquierdo was a star last season for Brighton as he played some very pretty football, but his leg injury suffered at the World Cup will keep him out for an unspecified amount of time. Finally, new boy Florin Andone continues recovery from a groin injury and continues to miss out on a debut for his new side, having been acquired this summer. There's multiple big misses for Brighton, but their win last weekend shows that they are plenty capable without some of their key men.
Projected Liverpool Line-Up: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Projected Brighton Line-Up: Ryan; Montoya, Duffy, Balogun, Bong; Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, March; Gross; Murray
Previewing the Match:
Liverpool handled their business well in both matches last season against then a newly promoted side, but one of those matches was on the final day of the season with the Gulls already safely in the Premier League for this season. This is a fairly similar side with about four or five players likely to be different in the starting eleven, but their style of play is very much the same. Things are calm around Brighton, it's a positive vibe only buoyed by their upset of Manchester United last weekend, but as center-back Leon Balogun indeed pointed out, it's a stark contrast to go from Mourinho's United to Klopp's Liverpool in just a week.
Brighton are a disciplined side who run a 4-4-1-1 under Chris Hughton. Leading the line is Glenn Murray and right behind him is Pascal Gross, who's been a revelation for the side since signing last season. Gross does brilliantly to get between the defensive lines and pushes forward frequently to make the Brighton formation more of a 4-4-2 as a result with Gross pushing more left and forward as Murray patrols the right. Their true wingers, though, really help make the side work as Solly March on the left and Anthony Knockaert, former Championship Player of the Year, on the right do brilliant work to get forward to provide assistance put also track back so well to allow the outside defensive full-backs to get forward with regularity but also allows them to get a bit narrower in defense if need be. They're a very structured side who does very well to follow instructions set of them but the question to be asked of them is who will step up and score other than 34-year-old Murray? This is not a match concern, per say, but a more general question to be asked as the season progresses.
Liverpool is coming off a tough win against Crystal Palace, and this match I would imagine will be closer to last Monday's match than the matches against Brighton from last season. Brighton was allowed to be on the front foot against United last week, but that won't be the case this match. Still, it's a well-organized side that will need some breaking down. While Liverpool attacked via the wings against Palace, though, I can see the Reds looking to go through the middle as a result and then working the ball on a wing to try and deliver a final ball or cross into the box. Especially with a more inexperienced back line partnership, similar to the opening match with Ryan Fredericks and Fabian Balbuena making their first start across from Sadio Mane, I'm looking for Mo Salah on the right to attack the gaps between Balogun and the left-back, likely Gaetan Bong, as the full-back looks to get foward. Especially if it's Bernardo, I'll be looking for Salah to try and exploit his defensive deficiencies, but I do not expect Hughton to bring Bernardo into the line-up against this fired-up Liverpool side since he's a far more attack-minded full-back.
The final gaze is focused in on the Liverpool defense and the question of whether or not they can continue their two-match clean sheet run. Joel Matip is back at full fitness but the question of whether or not to ruin a good thing in Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez is a good idea. Gomez is a center-back of the future for Klopp and Liverpool and he's impressed fans of the side. Trust needs to fall on the full-backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, to do their job of slowing down the wings. If they can do that with success, the supply line that comes from them shuts down and allows the center-back duo to focus on shutting down Murray as the lone striker and snuffing out any runs that Gross may make if the wingers try to take the Robertson out wide and leave space between he and van Dijk. The key match-up, then, will likely be Glenn Murray and Joe Gomez as Gomez will need to be up to the task of slowing down Murray who does well to play physically and has won nine duels in the air in the first two matches. It's up to the Liverpool defense to allow the attack to have the freedom to get forward and not worry about any defensive concerns. And that trust has only been growing over the course of last season and now this.
Final Thoughts:
If you would have asked me before the season which of the first four matches before their trip to Tottenham would be a most likely victory, this would be the match I'd have chosen. Now though, with the performance of the Gulls against United, questions are certainly going to be raised about who's going to walk out of Anfield in better shape.
Score Prediction: Liverpool 3: Brighton and Hove Albion 0:
That said, I'm still going to pick a comfortable victory for Liverpool. I think the play type of Mourinho's United really invites Brighton's strengths to be utilized, that won't be the case for Liverpool. I think you'll see similar possession stats as Brighton/United (66.6/33.4 to United) but in that possession Liverpool will do more attacking with it as opposed to United, on occasion, allowing Brighton to be on the front foot even a bit in the second half when down to try and open up a counter attack. The pressure will be too much and I favor Liverpool's defensive abilities to hold up against this Brighton side and give the Anfield crowd a positive result.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for more LFC coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
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