
Liverpool have taken their foot off the gas since being crowned champions, but Brighton have plenty to play for on Monday night as they look to finish in the top eight and potentially earn a place in Europe.
Brighton went on a shocking run after being knocked out of the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage. The only point they picked up in their first four games of April was a disappointing one at home to Leicester.
Since then, though, they have picked up victories at home to West Ham and away to Wolverhampton Wanderers, either side of a respectable draw with Newcastle.
Still, it is Brentford in pole position to finish eighth, which would be enough for Europa Conference League qualification unless Crystal Palace win the FA Cup.
The Seagulls will hope to take advantage of a possibly casual Liverpool and keep their continental hopes alive.
The Liverpool squad were spotted in Dubai during the week, as they spent a few days at the Atlantis The Royal hotel on a trip put together as part of Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s goodbye.
Arne Slot also went abroad. The Reds boss was seen at the O Beach club in Ibiza, and only brought the team back together at the training ground on Friday.
They will have had three days of training by the time they get to Brighton, but it is still perhaps hard to imagine them being at full tilt on Monday night.
The runaway champions were off the pace at Chelsea earlier this month and were also sloppy in letting Arsenal back into the game on Sunday.
Brighton and Liverpool have played out some excellent matches in recent times, including a pair of close victories for the Reds this term.
They met twice in four days as October turned into November last year. The first of those encounters was in the Carabao Cup at the Amex, where Liverpool won 3-2 with Cody Gakpo netting twice.
The league clash at Anfield featured fewer goals but was arguably more thrilling. The Seagulls took the lead early through Ferdi Kadioglu, then a second-half fightback from Liverpool at the Kop End saw them go top of the table. Gakpo was on the scoresheet again, but Mohamed Salah’s stunning winner stole the headlines.
Viewers on Monday night should be treated to a goal-heavy affair if recent meetings are anything to go by.
Salah will hope he contributes to at least one, as that would see him equal a record shared by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer.
The best bet for this fixture is a bet builder featuring both teams to score, and Mats Wieffer to commit a foul.
It is difficult to predict the lineup that Slot will select for Monday night, which makes picking out a bet trickier than usual.
Brighton’s injuries make their team selection difficult too, so much so that Tariq Lamptey ended up playing as a winger at Wolves last week.
Two players that have started in the same position for both sides over the last four games, though, are Gakpo on Liverpool’s left wing and Wieffer at right-back for the Seagulls.
That creates a nice fouls match-up. Gakpo draws 1.52 per 90 and was fouled in each of the other two head-to-heads this season.
Wieffer commits 1.99 per 90, and even if it is Diaz (fouled 1.33 per 90) on the left rather than Gakpo as his direct opponent, he looks a good bet to be penalised at least once.
Pairing that selection with both teams to score creates a good enough price for us. BTTS is obviously very short, but understandably so. A goal for Liverpool would mean they have netted in every Premier League away game for the first time, and Salah will be extra motivated to make that happen as he is chasing records of his own.
The Reds have not been defending particularly well, though, and would be doing very well to keep a clean sheet here given the circumstances.
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