BY THE time Liverpool face Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, their opponents from the south coast will not have played a competitive game for 26 days.

It will also have been 27 days since Liverpool themselves played a game in the Premier League, and though they have had games in the Champions League against Napoli and Ajax during that time, they still won’t have played a competitive game for 17 days.

Brighton's last game was a striking 5-2 win against Leicester City on September 4. It featured goals from Alexis McAllister and Moises Caicedo, midfielders who have played a big part in Brighton’s early good form.

“Alexis had to be patient and wait his time and be disappointed, and support the team from the side — same with Moises,” Brighton’s then manager Graham Potter said of the pair.

“You see the performance today, I think they epitomise what the team and the group is about, supporting each other and waiting for the opportunity.”

Since that game Potter has left Brighton to join Chelsea, taking up a post that became available after Thomas Tuchel was sacked by the London club.

Brighton replaced the Englishman with highly rated 43-year-old Italian manager Roberto De Zerbi who had impressed with Sassuolo in Serie A before a short spell with Shakhtar Donetsk.

“Potter did a great job, everyone knows what made Potter here, but I’m not Potter,” De Zerbi stated in his first press conference

“We have a lot of things in common, but I’m not talking about the way we play, I’m talking about the principles and the mentality.

“So if we can keep this mentality and those principles, I will try to bring my clear idea without making many big changes.”

The break from matches will have given De Zerbi time to bed in at the club, and he has almost has a mini pre-season with any players at the club who weren’t called up for international duty.

Changing managers mid-season, especially due to the previous manager’s success rather than their failure, can be difficult, but the break came at an opportune time for the Seagulls.

Brighton currently sit in the top four — a place Liverpool believe they should also be occupying at this early stage of the season as they prepared to mount another challenge to Manchester City’s title.

But Jurgen Klopp’s side have not enjoyed the best of starts and, a 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth aside, have not looked convincing in any of their games so far.

Klopp called the 4-1 defeat to Napoli in the Champions League one of the worst performances of his Liverpool tenure, and wins against Newcastle and Ajax were eked out rather than resounding.

It could be said that the postponed games in September came at a good time for Liverpool too, as it gives them chance to regroup and more time for players out injured to recover.

In the past, Liverpool have been a team who thrive on the intensity provided by regular games, and have sometimes struggled following extended breaks, but this should have been one of the more welcome breaks given their poor form going into it.

Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez all scored goals during the international break, too, which should give them some confidence.

And confidence is something Liverpool need given they sit eighth in the table, already nine points behind leaders Arsenal and eight off Manchester City, having won just two of their six league games.

The postponement of two of their games does mean Liverpool have a game in hand, though, and they could eventually close that gap if they win their extra game.

But starting this next run of games against one of the form teams in the league, regardless of Brighton’s manager situation, is a difficult ask.

It’s not a fluke that Brighton are in the top four, and they started last season in a similar fashion before going on to finish ninth in the Premier League.

A win against a struggling Liverpool side would be a real statement for both De Zerbi and the club.

The 2022/23 Premier League season will be one of enforced breaks. It already feels like it is being played in sporadic bursts due to international breaks and postponements, and this will be even more noticeable when the break for the World Cup comes around in November and December.

Both Liverpool and Brighton have been able to use the most recent of these breaks to regroup for various reasons.

Liverpool to attempt to rescue their season following a poor start, and Brighton to try to make the transition from one manager to another as smooth as possible, having started well.

With the games now coming at a rate of two per week for Liverpool, and Brighton also embarking on a run of six games in October alone, whether this time off has benefited these two clubs or not will soon be seen.