MatchThe opposition lowdown: Brighton & Hove Albion

Season so far

Brighton enter this weekend's round of fixtures sitting eighth in the standings on 23 points.

They have won six, drawn five and lost four of their opening 15 matches.

They make the trip to Anfield following a 1-1 draw with West Ham United at Amex Stadium last time out.

Key players

Danny Welbeck has been the visitors' most prolific player in front of goal this season. The striker has netted seven times in his 15 top-flight appearances to date.

Defender Jan Paul van Hecke is the next-highest scorer on three, while Diego Gomez and Maxim De Cuyper both have two to their name.

Yankuba Minteh, meanwhile, leads the way for assists in the team with four, ahead of Mats Wieffer (three) and Georginio Rutter (two).

Team news

James Milner could return from injury to face the Reds, whom he represented for eight years from 2015 before departing to Brighton.

Fabian Hurzeler's options are also boosted by having Kaoru Mitoma, Tommy Watson and Yasin Ayari available again.

Stefanos Tzimas has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee issue, joining Solly March and Adam Webster on the sidelines.

Previous meetings

This fixture last season saw Liverpool come from behind to win 2-1 in the November.

Ferdi Kadioglu opened the scoring for the visitors but two goals in three second-half minutes from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah earned the spoils.

They then met on the south coast in the penultimate game of the 2024-25 campaign, with the hosts winning 3-2 late on.

What they said

Hurzeler, Brighton head coach

"It's about us, it's about focusing on our principles, our style of play. We know no matter which situation Liverpool is [in] it will be a big challenge. We try to face it and we try to go there to win this game.

"Every game is an opportunity for us to win it and [in] every game we've proved this season we can beat other teams, no matter how big the individual quality is. I think tomorrow we face a team with the biggest, highest individual [quality] in the league, but we still have to believe to go there and win this game.

"Like I said, it's about focusing on us, showing the things we try to implement during the training week and trying to play with more intensity, with more energy than we played in the last game. That's our challenge and that's what we try to focus on."

Pre-match stats

• Brighton have never beaten Liverpool in consecutive league matches before.
• The team scoring first has not won any of the last four Premier League encounters, since a 3-0 victory for the Seagulls in January 2023.
• Brighton have won just two of their 16 Premier League matches versus the reigning champions, with those wins coming at Liverpool in 2020-21 and at home to Manchester City last term.
• Welbeck has been directly involved in four goals across his last six Premier League appearances against the Reds (two goals, two assists).