Liverpool hosts Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield in a riveting Premier League contest on Saturday afternoon.
The Reds are looking to return to winning ways after their 3-3 draw at Leeds United last time out. However, they were successful in Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League victory at Inter Milan.
The Seagulls secured a late 1-1 draw against West Ham United last weekend and will also be looking to return to winning ways.
**Match preview**
Liverpool have lost just one of their eight Premier League home games against Brighton (W5 D2), though it was the only other time they’ve faced them as the competition’s reigning champions (0-1 in February 2021).
Brighton beat Liverpool 3-2 in their last meeting in May but have never beaten the Reds in consecutive league matches before.
The team scoring first hasn’t won any of the last four Premier League meetings between Brighton and Liverpool (D1 L3) since a 3-0 victory for the Seagulls in January 2023.
Arne Slot’s side have just 23 points (W7 D2 L6) and have conceded 24 goals in the Premier League this season, the worst start by a reigning champion in both metrics after 15 games since Leicester in 2016/17 (16 points, 26 conceded).
The Seagulls have kept a clean sheet in each of their last two away Premier League matches; they haven’t kept three in a row since between March and July 2020.
The Reds have conceded 48 goals in 35 Premier League games in 2025; only twice before have they shipped 50+ goals in a year in the competition, doing so in 2012 (51) and 2014 (52).
Fabian Hurzeler’s side are winless in their last eight Premier League matches in December (D5 L3).
Mohamed Salah has been an unused substitute in two of Liverpool’s last three Premier League matches. He’d only been an unused sub in three of the first 303 matchday squads he featured in for the Reds.
**Team news**
**Liverpool**
The hosts will be without Cody Gakpo, Giovanni Leoni and Jeremie Frimpong.
Federico Chiesa is out with illness, and Conor Bradley is suspended after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Leeds.
**Brighton & Hove Albion**
Stefanos Tzimas, Solly March, Adam Webster, James Milner and Kaoru Mitoma are sidelined with injuries.
**Predicted line-ups**
**Liverpool**: Alisson Becker, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitiké.
**Brighton & Hove Albion**: Bart Verbruggen, Mats Wieffer, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Maxim De Cuyper, Carlos Baleba, Diego Gómez, Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, Ferdi Kadioglu, Danny Welbeck.