Liverpool continued their relentless pursuit of Manchester City by beating Brighton 2-0 at the Amex in today’s early kick-off.
The Reds took the lead through a brave header from their impressive January signing Luis Diaz. The Colombian attacker latching onto a fine ball in behind from Joel Matip, before being clattered by Brighton ‘keeper Robert Sanchez.
The home side came out firing after the break and really should have leveled the score on 47 minutes, but French striker Neal Maupay blazed over the bar from close range.
Then on the hour mark Liverpool sealed the win from the penalty spot after Yves Bissouma handled in the area and Mohamed Salah fired his spot-kick straight down the middle.
Liverpool have now closed the gap to Man City to three points and speaking afterwards their manager Jurgen Klopp was pleased with the win over a Brighton side he rates highly.
“I like to watch Brighton a lot, I don’t like playing against them because they are really good,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
”We needed to get used to the way they started, but when we adapted, we controlled the game.
“We could have scored more; there were two or three chances where the last pass could have been slightly better. It was a good game against a good opponent.”
Klopp then went on to praise former Porto man Diaz and revealed that the South American has fitted into his squad easily.
“He’s a top player,” Klopp said. ”We have no groups in this team but a couple of the boys speak Spanish and Portuguese, they’ve taken him under their wing. The boy has settled as quick as the player and that is helpful.”
