Paul Merson has given his prediction for Liverpool’s Premier League clash at home to Brighton this afternoon.
The Reds will temporarily go top of the table if they avoid defeat at Anfield, but need a win if they’re to have any chance of ending the day in first place, with Manchester City and Arsenal facing each other a couple of hours later.
The Sky Sports has called both fixtures in his weekly Sportskeeda column, and while he expects Jurgen Klopp’s side to be given a fierce contest by the Seagulls, he’s backing a 2-1 home win.
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Merson wrote: “I think this is a hard game for Liverpool. A lot of people might think that Liverpool could just turn up and get the result here but Brighton, despite their struggles, are not going to be that easy to push aside. Brighton are yet another unpredictable team that turns up the odd weekend.
“We’ve got to that stage of the season where you have to win every game, especially when you’re chasing the title. This is a rather difficult phase because we’ve just had the international break and the players have been travelling and could be weary. For Liverpool, it’s one of those games that they just need to get out of the way.
“I don’t see this being a walkover by any stretch of the imagination, but Jurgen Klopp’s men should back themselves to pull off a narrow win here.”
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If Merson’s prediction turns out to be accurate, it’d give Liverpool a first home win over Brighton since November 2019. It was also 2-1 that day, with Alisson Becker sent off towards the end of that clash at Anfield.
A repeat of that scoreline would also see Klopp land a first victory over Roberto De Zerbi at the fifth time of trying, with the Italian bagging two wins and two draws against the Reds since he took charge of the Seagulls 18 months ago.
The south coast club have had the Indian sign over us in recent clashes, and their manager could see today’s fixture as a prime opportunity to stake a case to replace the man in the other dugout ahead of next season, with the 44-year-old one of the leading contenders to get the Merseyside gig.
However, as Merson says, it’s one of those games where Liverpool just need to find a way to win, even if it’s by the narrowest of margins. The City-Arsenal clash give us a glorious chance to steal a march in the title race, and it simply can’t be squandered.
It’ll probably be a very uncomfortable afternoon at Anfield, but the Reds have managed to get the job done more often than not this season, so they’ll back themselves to show the necessary qualities to end their curious Brighton hex today.
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