Match reportGakpo and Salah strike as Liverpool go top with turnaround against Brighton

The Reds trailed for much of Saturday’s encounter after Ferdi Kadioglu had lashed the away team in front with 14 minutes on the clock.

But a blistering two-minute period in the second half saw Cody Gakpo’s cross find the bottom corner and Mohamed Salah ping in a brilliant winner.

Results elsewhere meant Arne Slot’s men climbed back into pole position in the top flight, and enhanced the head coach’s record to 13 wins in 15 outings.

Team news

Slot reshuffled his pack following the midweek Carabao Cup success away at Brighton, with Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai the only players to retain their places in the XI.

Team: Kelleher, Van Dijk, Konate (Gomez, 46), Szoboszlai (Diaz, 66), Nunez (Endo, 77), Mac Allister (Jones, 66), Salah (Bradley, 90+1), Gakpo, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Alexander-Arnold.

Unused subs: Jaros, Robertson, Quansah, Morton.

First half

The game’s first opening came wholly courtesy of Darwin Nunez.

His solo run began in the centre-circle with a flicked touch over an opponent and took him all the way into the Brighton area, from where his rising effort was touched behind by Bart Verbruggen.

Fabian Hurzeler’s visitors had been lively, however, and they grabbed a lead in the 14th minute. Kaoru Mitoma sent the ball across the Liverpool box and after a couple of knocks on, it reached Kadioglu.

From right of goal, he whacked a strike across Caoimhin Kelleher that the goalkeeper got a slight touch on as it thudded the far post and bounced back into the net.

Kelleher then rescued the Reds from a more challenging deficit, leaving his line to get a vital block on Georginio Rutter, who had been sent in behind by a fine Yasin Ayari pass.

On the half-hour, Ibrahima Konate was found plum in the area from Kostas Tsimikas’ corner but his header was blocked on its path towards goal – and Brighton cleared from the scramble that followed.

As a tetchiness within the match increased, the Seagulls launched a counter that saw Mitoma loft in a cross with Tsimikas outnumbered at the post. Kadioglu met it with a first-time volley that soared into the Kop.

Brighton captain Danny Welbeck curled a free-kick from the centre that clipped the side-netting to the right before the interval arrived with the score unchanged.

Second half

Konate had hobbled off at the end of the first half with an apparent arm injury, and he was replaced at the back by Joe Gomez when the teams reemerged.

There was immediately a chance for Gomez, who guided a header too close to Verbruggen’s hands having been picked out by Tsimikas’ set-piece.

With the Anfield crowd doing its bit, Liverpool pressed on and Verbruggen again denied them, palming Alexis Mac Allister’s stooping header around the post after Gakpo attacked the byline and arrowed the ball back.

Virgil van Dijk failed to make contact when, still up from an earlier dead-ball, he was found in the box by Trent Alexander-Arnold’s arced pass, and then Verbruggen was their nemesis again.

Successive touches from Szoboszlai and Nunez allowed Salah to scamper through one-on-one, but the away ’keeper prevented the Egyptian’s attempt to dink the ball over him.

Slot turned to his bench with a quarter of the contest left, introducing Luis Diaz and Curtis Jones, and a stunning passage of play shifted the match.

On 70 minutes, Gakpo moved infield from the left and whirled in a cross that Nunez attacked without being able to touch – and the ball drifted inside the right post.

Amid the cacophony, the Reds went straight back at Brighton and the substitutes, Diaz and Jones, combined to carry the ball up the pitch and feed Salah in his ideal position.

Taking possession yards from the right corner of the area, the No.11 stepped in to create a trademark shooting angle and pummelled the finish into the opposite side of the net for what proved to be a sensational winning goal.

Attendance: 60,331