Liverpool retained their stranglehold at the Premier League summit with a 2-1 win over Brighton on Saturday.
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Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Premier League, Anfield
November 30, 2019
Goals: Van Dijk 18′, 24′; Dunk 79′
The Reds returned to Premier League action on Saturday off the back of their 1-1 draw with Napoli in the Champions League in midweek, with Brighton the visitors.
While Jurgen Klopp’s side headed into the meeting with 12 wins from 13 league games, the Seagulls arrived in 13th position without a win on the road in the league from their last five attempts.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were quickly on the front foot, however, and were rewarded twice in the space of six minutes.
And Virgil van Dijk was twice the beneficiary of two sumptuous deliveries from Trent Alexander-Arnold, the first from a free-kick on the edge of the area and the second from a corner.
It was Dutchman’s first time on the scoresheet since the opening day victory over Norwich, and his two headed efforts ultimately proved decisive in securing Liverpool the victory.
Brighton had refused to sit back and accept defeat as they continued to ask questions of the Reds who saw complacency kick in throughout the 90 minutes.
But just as the game appeared to peter out, the clash came to life with just over 10 minutes of action remaining as Alisson was shown a red card for handling the ball outside the area.
Adrian would take his place and concede from the resulting free-kick as Liverpool were caught napping to set up a nervy and tense end to the encounter.
But yet another 2-1 win would come the way of Klopp’s men who now see their lead atop of the table stretch to 11 points after securing their 13th win from the opening 14 games.
The relentless schedule continues with Everton‘s visit to Anfield on Wednesday.