Brighton’s Danny Welbeck scores twice to dent Liverpool’s EPL top-5 hopes

LONDON – Danny Welbeck scored twice as Brighton beat Liverpool 2-1 on March 21 to deal a major blow to the Reds’ push for a Champions League spot next season, with Arne Slot admitting that the result heaped more pressure on him.

Liverpool came into the match on the sunny south coast in buoyant mood, after hammering Galatasaray 4-0 in midweek to reach the Champions League last eight.

But a goal in each half from the evergreen Welbeck gave the hosts a fourth win in five Premier League matches, keeping alive their own hopes of European football next season.

Liverpool were missing both goalkeeper Alisson Becker and forward Mohamed Salah.

They suffered a further injury blow early in the game when top scorer Hugo Ekitike hobbled off with an apparent dead leg, after a firm challenge from former Liverpool stalwart James Milner.

The champions found themselves behind when Welbeck scored his 11th Premier League goal of the season in the 14th minute, nodding home from close range after Diego Gomez headed a cross-field pass back across goal.

Liverpool found some rhythm after falling behind and Alexis Mac Allister went close to an equaliser in the 22nd minute, but Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen got down low to his left to claw the ball away.

However, the visitors were level in the 30th minute after some clever opportunism from left-back Milos Kerkez.

He capitalised on an error from Brighton captain Lewis Dunk, who paid the price for heading a high ball back to his goalkeeper without looking behind him.

Hungary defender Kerkez nipped in and produced a composed finish, flicking the ball over the stranded Verbruggen.

Brighton started the second half brightly and were back in front in the 56th minute, with Welbeck again on the scoresheet.

Yankuba Minteh’s pinpoint cross was played into Welbeck’s path by Jack Hinshelwood and he finished confidently, with the goal confirmed following a VAR check.

It was the 12th Premier League goal by Welbeck, who made his EPL debut for Manchester United in 2008 and is enjoying his highest-scoring season in the league.

The striker, 35, was overlooked by Thomas Tuchel for his 35-man England squad on March 20. Yet no English player has more EPL goals than Welbeck this season.

Slot threw on teenager Rio Ngumoha, Andy Robertson and Federico Chiesa in a desperate search for an equaliser, but it was Brighton who remained the more threatening team.

Defeat leaves Liverpool fifth on 49 points, two behind Aston Villa and one ahead of Chelsea, with the top five almost certain to qualify for the Champions League next season.

“There is always pressure at Liverpool. On me, on the players. That is completely normal,” said Liverpool manager Slot.

“We have qualified for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and the Champions League, but in the league we need to make sure that in the end, we qualify for the Champions League.” 

The Reds missed the chance to get into the top four while Chelsea could leapfrog them into fifth with a draw at Everton later on March 21.

“That is what I meant before the game. What I thought was, you won’t need 24 points to qualify and hopefully I am right because we aren’t able to get 24 points any more,” Slot said of having to win all their remaining league matches before kicking off at the Amex Stadium.

“We kept trying, in the second half we were close but they were closer to score the third one than we were the second one.”

Their title defence collapsed earlier in the season, but they face Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals in early April, followed by holders Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last eight.

Liverpool have suffered 10 defeats in a single league campaign for the first time since 2015-16, with seven games to go.

“It is clear that we have lost a lot of points after playing in Europe,” Slot said. “I have tried to explain a lot of times already why this is but today we also have to give credit to Brighton.

“In the second half, they were the better team on the pitch.”

Brighton climbed into the top half of the table for the first time since early January, moving up to eighth before the remainder of the weekend’s games. AFP