Brighton & Hove Albion 3-2 Liverpool: Hinshelwood hands Seagulls crunch win in five-goal thriller to keep European dream alive | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion became just the fourth team to beat Liverpool in a league game this season when the sides faced off on Monday.

Three games on since they wrapped up the league title against Tottenham Hotspur, Arne Slot’s men had little to play for in stark contrast to their opponents.

Liverpool had the game’s first sight of goal through Cody Gakpo within the opening 60 seconds as the Dutchman cut in from the left and unleashed a strike that just about missed the far post.

Mohamed Salah called Bart Verbruggen into action early in the first half as the away side continued to dominate proceedings.

They were duly rewarded for their bright start moments later as Dominik Szoboszlai and Salah combined to release Conor Bradley down the right before the full-back found an unmarked Harvey Elliott in the box to finish with aplomb.

Liverpool’s opener spurred Brighton into life as the home side started to gain a foothold in the game after going behind.

The Seagulls had a glorious opportunity to restore parity just past the half-hour mark when Danny Welbeck got on the end of Simon Adingra’s cross but was unable to direct his header home.

Fabian Hurzeler’s men deservedly got themselves back on level terms in the 32nd minute thanks to a lovely passage of play which culminated in Yasin Ayari slotting past Alisson for his first-ever Premier League goal.

With the momentum now firmly in their stride, the home side looked the likelier of the two sides to grab the next goal.

However, it was the visitors who took the lead in first-half stoppage time as Szoboszlai produced a stunning long-range shot from a free kick played short to him by Elliott.

That drew the curtain on a lively first half as both sides headed into the interval with little separating them.

Undeterred by the concession of a goal so late in the opening 45 minutes, Brighton kicked off the second period on a positive note. Pervis Estupinan and Brajan Gruda drew decent stops out of Alisson in the early exchanges of the half.

Having cut a peripheral figure for large spells of the game, Salah had by far Liverpool’s best chance of the half to double the lead, but the Egyptian inexplicably fluffed his lines from close range.

Aiming to make up for his missed first-half opportunity, Welbeck called Alisson into action twice within a 10-minute span as Brighton sought parity for the second time on the day.

Less than five minutes after coming on as a substitute, Kaoru Mitoma hauled his side back into the contest, having reacted quickest in the box to pounce on Alisson’s save from a Welbeck effort.

Evidently not content with a point, the home side continued to ask questions of their visitors, with substitute Mitoma doing most of the probing.

Brighton would eventually take the lead five minutes from the end of normal time through Jack Hinshelwood, who got on the end of Matt O’Riley’s delivery to send the AMEX Stadium into a frenzy but only after a VAR check.

Now with a lead to protect, Brighton went into conservative mode, although they still had several opportunities to put the game to bed in stoppage time, albeit all to no avail.

Brighton held on to secure a crunch win and leave themselves in the box seat to secure eighth position, which could be enough to secure European football for next season.