Reds return from international break ahead of crucial Brighton test

The Premier League returns this weekend as Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool FC prepare to welcome Brighton & Hove Albion FC to Anfield on Sunday.

It’s about to get very busy at the AXA Training Centre in Kirkby, as Liverpool FC’s international contingent return to the club ahead of the Premier League run-in.

Sunday sees the visit of Brighton & Hove Albion FC at Anfield and, with just 10 games of the domestic season remaining, Jürgen Klopp knows that every point will count as the Reds go chasing their first league title since the victorious 2019-20 season.

LFC are currently second in the table, level on points with leaders Arsenal FC, with only goal difference separating the two sides.

Klopp saw a number of his players shine on the international stage over the last week or so, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Conor Bradley all scoring for their respective nations.

Szoboszlai had already netted the winning penalty in Hungary’s win over Turkey on Friday and made it two from two with the opener against Kosovo in Budapest on Tuesday evening.

Bradley was the hero for Northern Ireland as the young full-back’s first international goal secured a 1-0 win over Andy Robertson’s Scotland. Klopp will be hoping that the apparent injury that forced Robertson off in the second half will not turn out to be a serious cause for concern.

Mac Allister scored for Argentina as they beat Costa Rica 3-1 in Los Angeles, while there were also friendly wins for Ibrahima Konaté – who played the full 90 minutes in France’s victory over Chile – and Luis Diaz, who grabbed an assist in Colombia’s 3-2 win over Romania in Madrid.

Joe Gomez played the majority of England’s 2-2 draw with Belgium at Wembley, replacing the injured John Stones after 10 minutes, while Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo both featured in the Netherlands’ 2-1 defeat to Germany.

Kostas Tsimikas was part of the Greece team that missed out on qualification for Euro 2024, losing on penalties to Georgia, while Harvey Elliott continued his fine form for the England under-21s alongside Jarell Quansah, Elliott setting up two goals in a 7-0 win over Luxembourg.

Jayden Danns, meanwhile, has been talking about his remarkable first few months as part of Klopp’s senior squad and how much he is determined to learn from the legendary German in his final months in charge of the club.

Danns’ rise through the ranks has been meteoric, with the 18-year-old already scoring twice at Anfield, securing a League Cup winner’s medal and signing a new long-term deal at his boyhood club.

“To be honest, every time I’ve spoken with the boss he’s just been really encouraging and he’s probably the perfect role model,” the striker told LiverpoolFC.com.

“As a manager, personally I think he is the best manager in the world and when you look at him you’re a bit starstruck and he’s got this aura around him.

“So, yeah, every time you speak with him it’s meaningful and his biggest message is probably to just work hard and even Pep [Lijnders], he has been a big influence in me as well and his message was to work hard and do the same thing as well.”

Danns is now firmly part of the first team group and singled one player out for how welcoming he has been to the latest crop of players breaking through.

“To be fair, all of them have been brilliant to me,” added the attacker.

“I mean, they’ve been really welcoming, but I’d say Ibou [Konate] has probably been the biggest one. He’s so bubbly as a character, you can’t describe him as a personality, you go up there and he is like: ‘Dannsy!’

“It’s mental, to be honest, and I’m looking at him still thinking he’s like a film character because I’ve watched him all these years! When he’s putting his arm around you, you just feel at home.

“The whole squad is inspirational, to be honest. I’m coming into a squad that is up there contending for the league and they’ve won big things, so all these players I just try to soak in as much as I can and absorb all the information.

“They’ve all got brilliant things to give you and as a youngster, there’s nothing more you can ask for, really, to be coming into top players and them giving you advice. You look at [Mohamed] Salah and how professional he is and yeah, it’s just brilliant, to be honest.”

Finally, one of the club’s greatest ever players has been speaking about his latest appearance in front of the Anfield crowd.

Steven Gerrard was part of the Liverpool FC Legends team that beat Ajax Legends 4-2 in front of a packed crowd last weekend, and the club’s former captain and No.8 is relishing any chance he gets to perform in front of the Reds’ fans.

“It’s always been fantastic,” Gerrard said.

“When this crowd get going, especially in night games, it’s a powerful crowd.

“Obviously they’re building the capacity as we go along, it was 59,000 today. And I think they helped us turn the game around. 2-0 down at half-time but we felt it was against the run of play. We had to get the next goal and I thought the lads were terrific second half.

“It’s all for a good cause, we’ve got to remember why we’re here – we’re here for a good cause. There’s going to be a lot of money raised today going to go to some fantastic causes.”

The emotion of the day was heightened by the man in the home dugout for the day, as Sven-Goran Eriksson was offered the chance to fulfil a life-long ambition to coach the famous Merseyside club.

“Sven being here today was very special; as soon as I knew he was going to be the gaffer today, I couldn’t wait to come and play for him one more time,” Gerrard added, referring to his former England boss.