Brighton forward Danny Welbeck struck twice as Liverpool’s hopes of Champions League qualification were dealt a further blow by a 2-1 Premier League defeat at the Amex Stadium.
Arne Slot’s Reds arrived in Sussex without injured pair Alisson Becker and Mohamed Salah and bidding to bounce back from drawing at home to relegation-threatened Tottenham and losing at bottom club Wolves.
Welbeck headed the Seagulls into an early lead before benefitting from the tightest of offside calls to claim his 12th top-flight goal of the season after Milos Kerkez had capitalised on a mistake from Lewis Dunk to equalise.
A fourth victory in five games lifts Albion back into the top half of the table, while another disappointing outing for the reigning champions was compounded by top scorer Hugo Ekitike suffering an early injury.
Liverpool cruised into the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday evening thanks to a 4-1 aggregate win over Galatasaray but have work to do to secure a spot in the competition next season due to their patchy league form.
Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and Cody Gakpo replaced key duo Alisson and Salah, while Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler stuck with the team which started last weekend’s 1-0 win at Sunderland.
After kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes due to a road traffic accident on the A27, Liverpool suffered a further setback when 17-goal forward Ekitike limped off inside eight minutes following a collision with James Milner, to be replaced by Curtis Jones.
The visitors contributed to their own undoing as Brighton snatched a 14th-minute opener.
Ibrahima Konate gifted Albion a throw-in deep in Liverpool territory by miscontrolling a pass from Mamardashvili and, following Ferdi Kadioglu’s deep cross from the left, Diego Gomez nodded back across goal for former Manchester United forward Welbeck to head home and then taunt the travelling fans.
Brighton were even more generous for Liverpool’s 30th-minute leveller.
Mamardashvili’s long ball forward presented little danger, but Seagulls skipper Dunk headed the ball backwards without looking, allowing Liverpool left-back Kerkez to nip in and instinctively lob stranded keeper Bart Verbruggen.
Kadioglu threatened to restore Brighton’s lead early in the second half before Welbeck doubled his tally in the 56th minute.
Yankuba Minteh’s inviting cross from the left was turned back across the six-yard box by Jack Hinshelwood for the unmarked Welbeck to tap home and then leapfrog Dunk in celebration after a tense VAR review.
Mamardashvili turned away a thunderous free-kick from Gomez as Brighton sought to double their advantage and later denied Minteh, either side of Verbruggen saving well from Jones at the other end.
Seeking a second equaliser, Reds boss Slot sent on Andrew Robertson and Federico Chiesa with just under 15 minutes to go.
The away side’s struggles to create continued, albeit Gakpo stung the palms of Verbruggen five minutes from time.
Brighton substitute Yasin Ayari had a goal-bound effort blocked by Jones before the hosts held on during seven minutes of added time to send Liverpool into the international break on a three-match winless league run.
