Mohamed Salah impressed off the bench on his Liverpool return after being removed from selection in a comfortable 2-0 win over Brighton as Hugo Ekitike’s double took the champions up to sixth in the Premier League.
Salah, restored to the squad after talks with head coach Arne Slot, was introduced earlier than expected, replacing the injured Joe Gomez after 26 minutes, and Anfield greeted him with big cheers, any ill feeling over his interview at Leeds forgotten.
Ekitike scored twice for the second league game running, but it was the Egypt forward’s performance, in his final appearance for Liverpool before AFCON, that this game will be remembered for.
Hugo Ekitike celebrates after scoring his second goal of the game against Brighton
Hugo Ekitike leaps to head Liverpool into a 2-0 lead against Brighton
Salah set up Ekitike’s towering header with a corner in the second half, ending a run of three league games without a goal involvement, and nearly ended this tumultuous week in the perfect fashion, only to fire over late on from Federico Chiesa’s cross.
Liverpool were already in front when Salah came on after Ekitike scored the fastest goal of the Premier League season with just 46 seconds on the clock thanks to a poor Yankuba Minteh clearance pounced on by Gomez’s header to tee up the Frenchman.
Brighton’s Diego Gomez failed to convert two big chances to equalise either side of the break and was fortunate still to be on the pitch for the second, a sitter at the back post, having survived a VAR check for a high challenge on Florian Wirtz.
Liverpool made a potentially difficult afternoon look easy as they extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to five games to overtake Brighton in the table as they drop down to ninth after a third game without a win.
Salah stopped after the game to appreciate the home fans, singing his name all afternoon, but gave little away as to whether this could be his farewell game. The Liverpool icon has said goodbye for now. But his future is expected to dominate for weeks to come.
More to follow…
