Liverpool expert David Lynch has pinpointed the one area that could give the Reds the edge in Saturday's Premier League showdown with Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield.
Arne Slot's team reunite with the Seagulls on the back of a five-goal spectacular in the last 16 of the EFL Cup, as the defending champions prevailed 3-2 to set up a quarter-final trip to Southampton.
Only four places and six points separate Liverpool and Brighton in the early-season Premier League standings, though, as the latter have made a terrific start to life under new manager Fabian Hurzeler, the youngest-ever permanent boss in the competition.
Liverpool will have to cope without Federico Chiesa and Diogo Jota on Saturday, but with Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz all fit and firing, Lynch believes that the hosts' quality options in attack should be enough to clip the Seagulls' wings.
"I had a little look at Brighton's expected goals numbers yesterday, and they're quite high for expected goals for but also quite high for expected goals against, so I think their games are interesting. Good fun maybe for opposition players to come into, although they've won quite a lot of games this season," Lynch told Sports Mole.
Lynch warns Liverpool to expect "tests" against Brighton
"The thing you would say that's in Liverpool's favour is the firepower they've got in comparison to Brighton should be enough to get them over the line, particularly the Anfield one in the league where they'll have the strongest XI out.
"It's going to be an interesting one, but it's a good test of this control that Slot is implementing as well, and whether Liverpool can keep that against the side that's trying to go forward in waves and whether they can keep Brighton at arm's length.
"That'll be a good test of them and then obviously you expect the quality to tell at the other end, but there'll be tests. Brighton score at the right moments - that's always your concern around these games - so Liverpool are going to have to be good to win."
Brighton were often a bogey team for Liverpool during the Jurgen Klopp era, and the Merseyside giants come into Saturday's game having only won three of their last 10 clashes with the South Coast side in all tournaments, although two of those successes have come in 2024.
With Hurzeler at the helm, Brighton have accrued 16 points from their first nine games of the Premier League season and have already achieved some notable scalps against Big Six clubs, defeating Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United while also holding 10-man Arsenal to a 1-1 draw.
Parallels drawn between Brighton recruitment and transfer strategy
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The Seagulls' tally of 16 goals is also just one inferior to Liverpool's 17 at the correct end of the field, but they have also let in 12 at the other end, the worst defensive record among the current top eight.
Two of those goals came in a catastrophic collapse against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend, where Brighton went 2-0 up in the 85th minute, only to capitulate and take just a point from an unbelievable 2-2 draw against the basement battlers.
Nevertheless, Lynch could not speak highly enough of 31-year-old Hurzeler, who is younger than a handful of Liverpool players Alisson Becker, Salah and Virgil van Dijk, while also drawing parallels between the Seagulls' much-lauded transfer strategy and their appointment of Hurzeler.
"He's younger than me, which is incredibly frustrating! That's the first time that's ever happened, so absolutely gutted about that one!" Lynch laughed.
"But he's made a brilliant start, and you look at Brighton's recruitment full stop - it's just sensational. The work they do there, they always know exactly what players will fit their system, the profiling is brilliant and they very, very rarely get transfers wrong, which is a big reason why they've come to the point that they have.
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"They've been on a European campaign from years ago being in the lower leagues, so it's an incredible journey they've been on.
"If you're good at recruitment, you're good at recruiting managers. They're very similar to Liverpool in that regard; obviously they don't quite have the resources, which makes it even more impressive, but if you're good at identifying players then you can apply that logic to the managers, and they seem to have done that again.
"He's that young, he is raising eyebrows. You're thinking he might come to the Premier League and struggle a little bit - is this going to be a bit more of a difficult season for Brighton? - but he's taken to it like a duck to water, like so many of the signings they've made in recent years.
"There are some great early results and I think that this is going to be another big test for Liverpool, because they've got a very, very smart manager and already we know that Brighton have got a good squad as well."
Liverpool boss Slot has delivered an update on the fitness of three players ahead of Saturday's game, which Nunez will be expected to start up front as he endeavours to continue his recent improvement.
Ben Knapton
