Jürgen Klopp’s Reds could temporarily move to the top of the Premier League table with a win on Sunday. We look ahead to the game at Anfield with our Liverpool vs Brighton prediction and preview.
Liverpool vs Brighton Stats: Quick Hits
- The Opta supercomputer predicts Liverpool as the heavy favourites, with the home side winning 60.7% of pre-match simulations against Brighton.
- Mohamed Salah needs one more assist to become the first player in Premier League history to reach double figures for both goals and assists in three consecutive campaigns.
- Liverpool have won just one of their last seven league games against Brighton (D4 L2).
Match Preview
With Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal facing each other on Sunday, Liverpool will have the chance to put pressure on the pair when they host Brighton at Anfield earlier on a potentially decisive day for the Premier League trophy.
Jürgen Klopp’s men sit level on points but have an inferior goal difference to Mikel Arteta’s league-leading Gunners, with that duo one clear of reigning English champions Man City heading into the weekend’s action, when Pep Guardiola’s side host Arsenal at Etihad Stadium.
Liverpool have not competed in the Premier League since their 1-1 draw with Man City on 10 March, when Alexis Mac Allister’s second-half penalty cancelled out John Stones’ set-piece opener at Anfield.
Mac Allister – who played 112 times for Brighton between 2020 and 2023 – has scored in each of his last three appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, having managed just two goals in his first 31 appearances for the Reds this term.
Star man Mohamed Salah is averaging one top-flight goal involvement every 76 minutes this season, the best rate of anyone to play at least 180 minutes in the competition this term, and could become the first player in Premier League history to reach double figures for both goals and assists in three consecutive campaigns.
Although Klopp’s side may be on course for a top-flight trophy, their unlikely quadruple hopes ended in a 4-3 FA Cup quarter-final defeat to fierce rivals Manchester United in their last outing, when Amad Diallo scored a 121st-minute extra-time winner.
Liverpool also progressed to the UEFA Europa League last eight after a convincing 11-2 aggregate thrashing of Sparta Prague, with Darwin Núñez, Bobby Clark, Salah, Cody Gakpo (twice) and Dominik Szoboszlai all on target in a 6-1 home win after the Man City draw.
As for the hosts’ team news, Andy Robertson, Núñez and Curtis Jones could all return from injury to feature in Klopp’s lineup for Sunday’s kick-off, though Diogo Jota, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Stefan Bajcetic, Alisson, Joël Matip and Thiago Alcântara remain out.
Though Salah could make history, Brighton may rely on their own creative king. Coming into this round of games, no player has provided more assists in the Premier League this season than Pascal Groß (10). The German also ranks second for chances created (76) and is one of two players along with Fulham’s Andreas Pereira to create 30+ chances from both open play (46) and set plays (30) this term.
Roberto De Zerbi’s side edged to a 1-0 home victory over Nottingham Forest in their last league encounter, courtesy of Andrew Omobamidele’s 29th-minute own goal on the south coast. That leaves Brighton, who were knocked out of the Europa League by Roma in the last 16 this month, eighth in the league table but just two points behind West Ham with a game in hand.
This game will come too soon for Jack Hinshelwood, Kaoru Mitoma and Solly March for Brighton, but whatever lineup De Zerbi goes with, the Italian knows he can rely on his alterations.
Brighton have managed 12 Premier League goals by players introduced from the bench, more than any other side. Liverpool’s 11 sub goals this season have been worth a league-high 10 points to the Reds.
Liverpool vs Brighton Head-to-Head
Having won each of their first six Premier League games against Brighton, Liverpool have now won just one of their last seven against them (D4 L2) – a concerning sign as Klopp’s men chase the title.
Dunk’s late header snatched a point for Brighton in the reverse fixture this term, cancelling out Salah’s brace at Amex Stadium after Simon Adingra’s opener back in October.
Brighton are also unbeaten in their last three away league games against Liverpool (W1 D2), having only avoided defeat in two of their previous 11 visits to Anfield (W1 D1 L9).
Yet Brighton have taken just five points from 33 available away from home against top-10 sides (W1 D2 L8) since the start of last season. In stark contrast, 11 of the Seagulls’ 12 Premier League away wins in the same period have been teams sides in the bottom half of the table, with the exception being a 3-0 win at second-placed Arsenal last May.
Recent Form
Liverpool will fancy their chances on Sunday, considering they are unbeaten in their last 26 Premier League home games (W20 D6) since a 2-1 loss to Leeds United in October 2022.
Expect goals, too, given Klopp’s men have both scored and conceded in their last six at Anfield – last having a longer such run between August and December 2019 (eight).
It will be a tough ask for Brighton as they haven’t managed to string together consecutive victories in the competition since a run of three in September.
Having beaten Forest last time out, De Zerbi’s side will have a chance to atone for that underwhelming run of form.
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system that assigns an ability score to over 13,000 domestic football teams on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off this weekend, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
Liverpool vs Brighton Predicted Lineups
Liverpool vs Brighton Prediction
The Opta supercomputer sees only one winner for Sunday’s Premier League clash, with Liverpool winning 60.7% of 10,000 pre-match simulations.
Brighton mustered an away victory in only 15.7%, so a draw may be their best hope as that result was forecast in 23.6% of the data-led scenarios.
Klopp’s side remain behind Premier League title favourites Manchester City (43.5%) in Opta’s end-of-season predictions, with their championship-winning hopes ranked at 35.1%, ahead of Arsenal’s 21.4%.
Brighton, meanwhile, slip one league-table position down to 10th most often in 19.1%, though De Zerbi’s men hold a narrow 6.5% likelihood of finishing in the top six.
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