CENTURY DUTY
Magic Mo keeps Reds on track to break 100-point barrier
AND so the juggernaut continues to overpower all before them. This was Premier League victory No 30 for Liverpool.
Aided as always by the everreliable Mohamed Salah, who sent them on their way with an early opener and then sealed the deal with his second in the 76th minute when Brighton were threatening to make a game of it.
True, this didn’t develop into the stroll that it had perhaps threatened to become when Salah and Jordan Henderson had put the champions 2-0 ahead inside eight minutes.
But when all was said and done, Liverpool had taken another step closer to history by smashing Manchester City’s 100-point Premier League record.
Of course, Jurgen Klopp’s side are becoming accustomed to finding themselves in that position.
With their first Premier League title wrapped up, you can only applaud Liverpool’s relentlessness.
When Brighton threw the kitchen sink at them, they stood firm like their lives depended on it.
Klopp made four changes from the side that defeated Aston Villa, notably Neco Williams handed his full Premier League debut following impressive cameos from the bench.
Graham Potter was in a tinkering mood, too, making three alterations from Brighton’s win at Norwich.
Easier said than done, of course, but victory against the champions would have virtually assured the Seagulls of their Premier League status for another season.
Liverpool had far loftier ambitions in their crosshairs; breaking City’s 100 Premier League points record.
They spent very little time in edging towards 92 points here, going agonisingly close to taking a fourth-minute advantage when Roberto Firmino’s effort was deflected narrowly wide.
Liverpool only had to wait another couple of minutes. Salah took the adulation, moving into third in the race for the Golden Boot with his 18th top-flight goal of the season.
Naby Keita deserved the lion’s share of credit, the midfielder dispossessing Davy Propper before squaring to the Egyptian.
Two minutes later, Henderson doubled Liverpool’s advantage from the edge of the box that left Mat Ryan with no chance.
If Brighton were hoping Liverpool had taken their eye off the ball slightly, they were mistaken. Yet the home side kept faith with their pressing and passing principles when the easier approach would have been to ditch them.
Slowly but surely, they gained a foothold, Williams forced into a brilliant last-ditch challenge to deny Leandro Trossard from halving the deficit in the 19th minute.
Allison was then forced into a point-blank stop to deny Neal Maupay following a blistering Brighton counter-attack led by Trossard before being denied again in the 35th minute.
Brighton were down, but certainly not out. Their intention to go toe-to-toe with Liverpool was refreshing.
They knew the consequences, as Salah reminded them in the 38th minute when he whipped an effort jut wide of Ryan’s far post.
As is often is the case, fortune favoured the brave. Brighton deservedly claimed their reward a minute before half-time, Trossard’s half volley from Tariq Lamptey’s cross sending the hosts in at the break with a spring in their step.
Klopp responded by hooking Williams, who had been booked, and replacing him with Andy Robertson.
Liverpool would have had a third in the 54th minute had Dan Burn not accelerated back to deny Salah on the goal line.
Burn then saw his effort cleared off the line by Joe Gomez six minutes later as Brighton took the fight to the champions.
Yet there was something to admire about Liverpool’s appetite for a scrap.
The intensity didn’t flounder, nor did the undoubted quality — Salah and Henderson squandering decent openings.
Then all three points were sealed in the 76th minute when Salah notched his 19th of the season with a brilliant near post header from Robertson’s corner.