Danny Welbeck double helps Brighton deal blow to Liverpool’s top-five hopes
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Danny Welbeck has not given up on making England’s World Cup squad and showed exactly what Thomas Tuchel is missing with two goals to dent Liverpool’s Champions League hopes. The Brighton striker moved past Dominic Calvert-Lewin – selected ahead of him for England’s upcoming friendlies – with his 11th and 12th league goals of the season, making him the Premier League’s highest-scoring Englishman.At 35, this is the most prolific campaign of his career.
The manner of Brighton’s goals summed up Liverpool’s season: disjointed, out of sync, error-strewn.Milos Kerkez equalises for Liverpool. Moments later, Liverpool’s goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili – drafted in after Alisson pulled out injured on Friday night – had the ball at his feet and played it to Ibrahima Konaté, but the pass was overhit and the defender let it run under his foot.
Their push for a top-five finish – likely enough for Champions League qualification – suffered another blow when they lost Hugo Ekitiké to injury early on.Quick GuideBrighton 2-1 Liverpool key factsShow• Liverpool have lost 10 Premier League games in a season for the first time since 2015-16 (also 10), while it’s the seventh time the reigning champions in a Premier League season have lost 10+ games after Leeds United in 1992-93 (15), Blackburn Rovers in 1995-96 (13), Manchester United in 2013-14 (12), Chelsea in 2015-16 (12), Leicester City in 2016-17 (18) and Chelsea in 2017-18 (10).• Danny Welbeck’s double for Brighton took his tally of Premier League goals this season to 12, his outright most in a single campaign. His second goal (pictured) meant he had scored more than once in a league game for the third time this term, the outright most times he has done so in a season. • Virgil van Dijk made his 265th appearance for Liverpool in the Premier League, all of which have been starts; it’s the outright most appearances for an outfield player at a club while starting all of them in the competition’s history, overtaking Des Walker’s 264 appearances at Sheffield Wednesday.Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFPDuring a lengthy delay, the Brighton fans chanted “Are you Arsenal in disguise?” while Ekitiké went down, rose to his feet then dropped to the floor again.