Mitoma (blue) could give the Reds problems tomorrow. — AP
LIVERPOOL and Brighton & Hove Albion will both want to get back to winning ways following their losses last week.
While the Reds fell to an unfair and undeserved 2-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, the Seagulls were hammered 6-1 by Aston Villa.
The Merseyside club, who travel to the AmEx Stadium this weekend, will be expected to come out with guns blazing and it could turn out to be a tough day for Brighton.
Jurgen Klopp and his team might still be feeling unfairly done by over what had transpired at Spurs, as that refereeing disaster caused them their first defeat of the season.
Anger, if used correctly, is often good motivation which could spur one on to get the best out of themselves.
And in this case, the entire Liverpool team should be fully fired up to unleash their frustration on the Seagulls, even if they already did so against Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise whom they beat in the Europa League on Thursday.
Against Brighton, Klopp will be without Curtis Jones, who failed to have his red card appeal against Spurs overturned.
The Englishman has been quite influential with his all-round displays, winning the ball back from the opposition and keeping play tidy in midfield.
His replacement could be Ryan Gravenberch, who is in line to make his first league start, having only made cameos from the bench in the league since he was signed from Bayern Munich.
Wataru Endo and Harvey Elliot are the other options, while Dominik Szosboslai and Alexis Mac Allister should remain the two mainstays in midfield.
With Diogo Jota also unavailable, having been sent off against Tottenham, and Cody Gakpo suffering injury in the same match, Klopp will have no choice but to play Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez up front.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, who started in midweek, should be in line for a full return to the starting XI, with Virgil van Dijk likely to partner Ibrahima Konate in the centre of the defence.
To be involved in multiple competitions, including local cups and a first time in the Europa League, Brighton might be feeling the heat from playing so many games over a short time frame.
After their superb 3-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford last month, Roberto de Zerbi’s team followed up with three losses and one win.
And after the 2-2 draw with Marseille in the Europa League group stage match on Thursday, the players may again be feeling it, even though they would also want to put the shambolic display at Villa Park behind them and to ruin Liverpool’s day.
There will be no reunion for former Liverpool players James Milner and Adam Lallana as both, along with Julio Enciso, Pascal Gross, Jakub Moder, are out due to injuries.
De Zerbi still has a competent squad to face the Reds, as Kaoru Mitoma, Danny Welbeck, Solly March, Evan Ferguson, Billy Gilmour, Ansu Fati, Mahmoud Dahoud and Joao Pedro are all fit, available and raring to go.
Liverpool have shown that the “mentality monsters” are back, with the comebacks and strong performances.
They were also so much better than Spurs, even when they were down to 10 men and continued to attack without fear, and troubled Spurs.
With nine men, there was only so much the Reds could do but still Spurs could not capitalise on their numerical advantage in normal time. It was only for an unlucky Joel Matip’s own goal at the death that settled the match in their favour.
If not for the incompetent refereeing, the results would have been different with the Merseyside club possibly top of the table.
The players are hungrier now, more than ever and will want to go on another unbeaten run, starting with the Seagulls.
