Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
by James Nalton
at Anfield

MOHAMED SALAH gave one of his best performances of the season as Liverpool breezed past Brighton into the fifth round of the FA Cup on a chilly Saturday night on Merseyside.

The Egyptian troubled highly rated Brighton left-back Ferdi Kadioglu all night, and it was only a matter of time before this attacking play showed on the scoresheet.

Before then, another standout player in Liverpool red helped his side get off the mark. 

Milos Kerkez has grown into the left-back role this season ahead of club legend Andy Robertson, and put in a performance here that was only matched by Salah as part of an impressive overall Liverpool display.

A pass from Alexis Mac Allister encouraged Kerkez to advance down the left to the byline, and once there, he crossed into the danger area. 

Right back for the night, Curtis Jones, had darted towards the six-yard box to execute a finish that required sound technique to open the scoring.

Kerkez’s compatriot Dominik Szoboszlai is never far from the good things Liverpool do this season, and it was he who doubled Liverpool’s lead.

It was also Salah’s first goal involvement of the night as, with one touch, he cushioned Cody Gakpo’s pass into the path of Szoboszlai, who finished convincingly.

Salah’s goal eventually came from the penalty spot, but his finish was just as emphatic and as technically excellent as the first two Liverpool goals.

He won the spot-kick himself, bursting past using strength as well as speed to get into the box, where he was fouled by Pascal Gross. 

Brighton goalie Jason Steele had no chance of saving the penalty, and Salah received the adulation of the Kop grandstand.

“It is very nice to have [Salah] on the scoresheet again, but what I like the most is he scoring goals — you can almost expect that — but he also helps the team a lot defensively and that is something very positive,” said Liverpool boss Arne Slot.

Goalkeeper Alisson also played a part with a save from Diego Gomez, managing to stay alert enough in the cold conditions to react after a slip from Jones presented Gomez with the chance.

Liverpool will hope to take such convincing displays into other competitions where they have struggled this season, but there is a lot to be said for prioritising the cup competitions and getting their total tally of FA Cups (8) closer to those of Manchester United (13) and Arsenal (14).

Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler was left to rue two solid chances missed by his side.

“Moments decided the game, unfortunately in the wrong direction,” he said.

“The goal from Liverpool came from nowhere. We had two big chances where we had to score. The second half the same.

“They had the quality to use their chances. We weren’t able to be that effective. It was a disappointing result for us.”