Liverpool vs Brighton: Ekitike double sinks seagulls as Salah gets warm Anfield welcome

Liverpool vs Brighton ended in a 2-0 Premier League victory at Anfield on Saturday as Hugo Ekitike scored twice and Mohamed Salah received a warm reception from the home fans despite ongoing uncertainty over his future at the club.

In the Liverpool vs Brighton clash, Arne Slot’s side secured a much-needed win to climb provisionally to sixth in the table on 26 points after 16 matches. Brighton, meanwhile, dropped to ninth, sitting three points behind the Reds. Slot admitted his team finally enjoyed a slice of good fortune after a challenging run.

“For the first time in weeks, I feel like we had a bit of luck today,” Slot told the BBC. “Maybe we deserved this bit of luck because of the mentality we showed and the injuries and other things like that.”

Liverpool made the perfect start, scoring after just 47 seconds, the fastest goal in the Premier League this season. A poor attempted clearance from Yankuba Minteh allowed Joe Gomez to nod the ball back into the box, where Ekitike reacted quickly and turned his shot past Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

Salah, whose future at Liverpool has been questioned following recent criticism of the club and manager, was introduced in the 26th minute after Gomez picked up an injury. The Egyptian winger was greeted with a standing ovation and quickly made his presence felt.

His impact was decisive in the 60th minute when a perfectly delivered corner from Salah found Ekitike at the back post, and the French striker headed home his second goal. It was Liverpool’s first league goal from a corner this season.

The assist also saw Salah set a new Premier League record for goal involvements with a single club, moving to 277 and surpassing Wayne Rooney’s total with Manchester United. Anfield rang out with chants of Salah’s name following the goal.

Liverpool nearly added a third in stoppage time when Salah fired over the bar from close range after a counter-attack, but the miss did little to dampen the mood as he applauded the fans at full-time.

“It was an easy decision to put him in the squad,” Slot said. “We needed him, and he assisted the second goal. That’s nice for us.”

The victory followed Liverpool’s midweek 1-0 Champions League win over Inter Milan and provided momentum as they head into a busy run of fixtures.