MOTOWN HERO: SALAH KEEPS REDS ON SONG
Salah keeps off tune Liverpool on title track
Brighton ...................0 Liverpool ..................1 Jurgen Klopp praised his side for staying in title tune, even if they hit a few bum notes.
Liverpool moved seven points clear at the top of the table and bounced back from two straight defeats thanks to a Mo Salah penalty.
Klopp said: “It was a really nice song, if not an opera of football. We learned from the first half and the second half was better.
“It was a ver y mature performance from my side. This
season it is quite a new skill and I’d like us to keep that.
“It was very hard but everyone knows how difficult it is to come to Brighton.”
Liverpool had plenty to prove having lost 2-1 at Manchester City in their previous league outing before being beaten by Wolves in the FA Cup third round by the same scoreline.
Klopp’s men struggled to get going and Xherdan Shaqiri missed their best chance in the opening half when he headed Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross just wide of the target.
But after a dour first half, Salah produced a moment of trademark individual skill in 50 minutes to win a spot kick.
The Egyptian hitman’s nifty footwork left Pascal Gross bamboozled inside the box and he tripped the striker.
Salah buried the penalty with trademark coolness.
As Brighton threw men forward in the closing stages, Liverpool twice came close to scoring again with keeper David Button parrying Roberto Firmino’s effort before Salah misfired wide from five metres.
Klopp singled out AlexanderArnold for praise after he picked up an ankle injury in the warm-up but played through the pain for the full 90 minutes.
He said: “It was the last part of the warm-up and he wanted to play so he didn’t tell us about it immediately.
“At f irst we thought he couldn’t play but it was a brilliant decision from the medical staff. He played well.”