Brighton rocks sloppy Liverpool with late fightback

BRIGHTON, England — Brighton's Jack Hinshelwood sealed a dramatic 3-2 victory against Liverpool on Monday to leave the Premier League champion without a win since clinching the title.

Arne Slot's side took the lead through Harvey Elliott's early opener at the Amex Stadium, before Yasin Ayari equalized for the host.

Dominik Szoboszlai restored Liverpool's advantage just before the interval, but Brighton staged a late fightback as Kaoru Mitoma leveled it up once more, and Hinshelwood came off the bench to net with his first touch.

Liverpool has taken just one point from its three matches following the title-clinching rout of Tottenham on April 27.

The Reds have lost at Brighton and Chelsea, and squandered a two-goal lead in a draw with Arsenal since their record-equaling 20th English crown was confirmed.

Liverpool can now look forward to receiving the Premier League trophy in Sunday's season finale against FA Cup winner Crystal Palace at Anfield, before an open-top bus parade through the city 24 hours later.

"Great game of football, but not the result we wanted," said Slot.

"If you don't score the third goal, then it's hard to win at this level, especially away from home.

"We cannot miss chances like we did if we want to win.

"I know these players already for 10 months, so it's not the first time I'm judging them, but it's nice to see Harvey score a goal and have an assist.

"Federico Chiesa had some nice moments as well, considering how long he's not been playing."

Slot admitted that motivating the champion for the final two matches of the season was a tricky task, and his fears were confirmed by this sloppy display.

Slot's players had a celebratory trip to Dubai this week, and only returned to training on Friday, while the Reds boss was seen partying in Ibiza for several days, as they soaked in a title victory secured in April.

"Did you see me on social media?" Slot asked with a laugh, in reply to a question about how focused he had been on the Brighton game.

Ahead of his widely-expected move to Real Madrid when his contract expires in the close-season, Trent Alexander-Arnold was left on the bench for a second successive game.

Thrilling comeback

Conor Bradley featured at right-back instead, and showed why he is a contender to replace Alexander-Arnold with his part in Liverpool's ninth-minute opener.

When Mohamed Salah rolled a pass to Bradley, he shifted gears with a dynamic burst into the Brighton area, before clipping a precise pass towards Elliott, who slotted home from close range.

The goal meant Liverpool had scored a goal in every away game of a league season for the first time in their history.

Bradley's attacking runs had more than a touch of Alexander-Arnold about them, but his finishing wasn't up to scratch when he took Chiesa's pass and fired wide from 10 yards.

Ayari grabbed Brighton's eye-catching equalizer in the 32nd minute.

The Sweden midfielder eluded Bradley and drilled a fine low finish past Alisson Becker from the edge of the area, after Brajan Gruda's lofted pass prized open the Liverpool defense.

Liverpool regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Szoboszlai caught out Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen with a swerving strike from wide on the right flank that whistled into the top corner.

Szoboszlai's bemused grin as he celebrated suggested the midfielder's effort might have been a miscued cross rather than a shot.

Salah was captaining Liverpool for the first time in the Premier League to mark his 300th appearance in the competition.

But, the Egypt forward missed an open goal when he flicked Cody Gakpo's cross wide from five yards.

It was a costly mistake from Salah, as Brighton equalized in the 69th minute.

Danny Welbeck's shot was pushed out by Alisson, and Japan winger Mitoma hammered in the rebound.

Hinshelwood completed Brighton's thrilling comeback in the 85th minute, the substitute slotting home from a Matt O'Riley cross with his first touch of the game.

AFP