Liverpool and Brighton will clash for the first time in the Premier League this season as the 2024-25 season enters match day ten.
The Reds have made credible progress under Arne Slot following the departure of Jurgen Klopp after nearly a decade at Merseyside. In contrast, Brighton have made a strong start to life under new manager Fabian Hürzeler.
Liverpool, who initially struggled to make any signings during the transfer window, eventually settled for Federico Chiesa from Juventus with only a couple of promotions from the youth team to the first team. Bobby Clark and Vitezslav Jaros are the promoted players. Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara, Adam Lewis, Melkamu Frauendorf, Mateusz Musialowski, who appeared against Sparta Prague earlier last season, Nathan Giblin, Francis Gyimah, Luke Hewitson, Niall Osborne and Cody Pennington all left the club.
After last season’s disastrous campaign, the Reds are early-season contenders alongside Manchester City and Arsenal. As of the time of writing, their biggest result came in the 3-0 bashing of Manchester United at Old Trafford. However, they did lose 1-0 to Nottingham Forest surprisingly at home but it is well known that the side can do a lot more when they are in their element.
Meanwhile, Brighton has been one of the most impressive sides in the Premier League season. Erstwhile manager Roberto De Zerbi left for Marseille and his replacement Hürzeler has looked the part already with some brilliant results that earned him the manager of the month in August. The youngest manager in the Premier League has led his team to the Emirates where they came away with a point while their other trip to London vs Chelsea was defeated. Aside from that, the Seagulls have been pretty decent and are looking good for another finish in the top ten this term.
Before the season got underway, Brighton made a couple of changes to their team with the likes of Georginio Rutter joining from Leeds United, Yankuba Minteh from Newcastle United, Mats Wieffer (Feyenoord), Brajan Gruda (Mainz), Ferdi Kadıoğlu (Fenerbache), Matt O’Riley (Celtic), and Ibrahim Osman (Nordsjaelland) coming in to bolster the squad. It was a transfer window where they spent well above €200m to secure the services of those players, meaning there is so much expected from the team in this particular campaign.
In terms of departures, the Seagulls lost Denis Undav to Stuttgart, Billy Gilmour to Napoli, Pascal Grob to Borussia Dortmund, and Adam Lallana left for Southampton on a free transfer. Those were the major exits from the club during the window.
Following the shock loss to Forest at home, Liverpool have stepped things up and they are looking like one of the teams that could challenge Manchester City for the title. Brighton are fearless with their style but Liverpool’s vibrant attack cannot be contained for 90 minutes and that might be the problem for them in the contest.
In the head-to-head count since 2011, Liverpool have won 10 matches, while Brighton have won just three matches and four games have ended in stalemates.
Match tickets
The epic match at Anfield in Liverpool kicks off on Saturday 2nd November 2024, at 3 pm UK time.
The magnificent 61,276-capacity stadium with its electrifying atmosphere will be ready to host this fixture.
Getting tickets for the Liverpool vs Brighton tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.
Team news
Lineups
Since Thiago and Matip left the club, Liverpool have a clean bill of health as of the time of writing. It is a new era at Anfield and we might still be seeing a whole lot of changes in the playing personnel until a final XI is confirmed by Slot.
Regardless, Alison should still be in goal, Trent Alexander-Arnold atright back and skipper Virgil Van Dijk is one of the players whose place is assured in the team. Alexis Mac Allister, who impressed last term, is expected to continue in midfield alongside the rejuvenated Ryan Gravenberch, while Mohamed Salah is expected to keep the goals coming in attack.
Liverpool: Alison Becker, Ibrahim Konate, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, and Mohamed Salah.
The Seagulls have it all to do at Anfield and they have a long list of players out injured as of the time of writing. Soly March is a long-absentee although nearing his comeback, James Milner is batting with a thigh injury, while Matt O’Riley is not expected to feature for Brighton in this contest. Other currently injured are expected to make a return in this game.
Brighton XI: Verbruggen (GK), Kadioglu, Webster, Dunk, Estupinan; Weiffer, Hinshelwood, Baleba; Rutter, Welbeck, Mitoma.
Prediction
Liverpool’s ghen-ghen pressing and incisive attacking play coupled with the atmosphere that their supporters are sure to create at Anfield is expected to be too much for Brighton to handle.
Brighton have only lost once in their last four trips to Anfield and that should give them some confidence coming into this contest. However, their only win on the road as of the time of writing came on the opening weekend of this particular season.
Under Slot, Liverpool have shown that they can be devastating and Brighton will have to be wary of that. If the Reds get into their groove, the Seagulls could be beaten by a large scoreline.
Liverpool 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion