Sports

Liverpool slide continues with 3-0 loss to Brighton

Sports Desk, Jan 14 (EFE).- Brighton & Hove Albion dominated Liverpool 3-0 Saturday to climb to seventh place in the Premier League and push the struggling Reds farther away from the European places.

The Seagulls improved to 30 points with a fifth victory in their last seven league outings.

Liverpool are ninth in the table with 28 points, 1 fewer than Brentford, 2-0 winners Saturday over Bournemouth.

Jürgen Klopp’s men have already been eliminated from the Carabao Cup – one of the two competitions they won last season – and are facing a replay with Wolverhampton next week to reach the fourth round of the other, the FA Cup.

After finishing just a point behind champions Manchester City in 2021-2022, Liverpool trail current Premier League leaders Arsenal by 16 points at the mid-point of the 2022-2023 campaign.

The unlikely hero for Brighton was 28-year-old Solly March, who had a brace and assisted on the third goal after having scored only 15 times in all competitions over a decade.

March, who has spent his entire senior career with the Seagulls, would have put the hosts up in the first half but for an intervention by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

In the first minute of the second half, a giveaway by Liverpool defender Joel Matip led to March’s first goal, which came after teammate Kaoru Mitoma scuffed an effort from close range.

March made it 2-0 just seven minutes later, beating Alisson with a deft strike.

Klopp sent in a quartet of subs for the final 20 minutes, Ben Doak, Naby Keita, Joe Gomez and Harvey Elliott, but instead of cutting the deficit, the Reds conceded again.

Veteran Danny Welbeck nailed down the win for Brighton in the 81st minute, a few minutes after new Liverpool acquisition Cody Gakpo was denied twice in quick succession by keeper Robert Sanchez.

EFE jjl/dr

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