Welbeck's double sinks Liverpool at Brighton as Slot's side slip to 10th league defeat
Danny Welbeck reminded Thomas Tuchel of what he is missing on Saturday, scoring twice as Brighton beat Liverpool 2-1 at the Amex Stadium. The 35-year-old, left out of Tuchel's latest England squad earlier in the week, took his tally to 12 Premier League goals for the season and became the division's top-scoring Englishman this campaign.
Early Ekitike blow sets the tone
Liverpool's afternoon began badly when top scorer Hugo Ekitike limped off inside eight minutes with what appeared to be a dead leg. Slot had already lost Mohamed Salah and Alisson to injuries picked up after the midweek Champions League win over Galatasaray, and the early setback left his side visibly disrupted.
"It started in the lead-up to this game," Slot said. "As so many times has happened this season, after we played a good game we couldn't bring that level again."
Sloppy defending punished
Brighton's opener in the 14th minute summed up Liverpool's disjointed display. Curtis Jones misplaced a pass, and moments later goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, drafted in for the injured Alisson, overhit a pass to Ibrahima Konate. The centre-back let the ball run under his foot, and from the resulting throw-in Diego Gomez headed the ball back across the six-yard box for Welbeck to nod in from close range.
Liverpool were level inside half an hour thanks to a gift from Lewis Dunk. The Brighton captain's back-header fell straight into the path of Milos Kerkez, who produced an instinctive dinked finish to make it 1-1 in the 30th minute.
Welbeck wraps it up
Brighton were the better side after the break. Yankuba Minteh swung in a cross from the left, nobody tracked Jack Hinshelwood at the back post, and Welbeck was left completely free to turn the ball home in the 56th minute. The goal survived a VAR check.
Mamardashvili kept the scoreline respectable with sharp saves from a Gomez free-kick and a Minteh one-on-one, but Liverpool could not find an equaliser.
What it means
The defeat is Liverpool's 10th in the Premier League this season, the first time they have lost that many league games in a campaign since 2015-16. They sit fifth on 49 points from 31 matches, and Chelsea could overtake them into that spot depending on results later in the weekend.
Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler praised Welbeck's influence beyond goals. "Even more important for a team is how he functions as a connector," Hurzeler said. "He's always there to connect the different ages, the different cultures. To be there as a social leader."
Slot acknowledged that Brighton deserved the win but pointed to the broader pattern of post-European collapses. "Brighton away has always been a difficult one," he said. "But there are other games where we should have picked up more points, like last week against Tottenham. That is far more unacceptable than this."
