Brighton vs Liverpool, Falmer Stadium, 12th January 2019, 3pmI’d originally written an in-depth introduction blending the history of the town of Brighton with that of Brighton and Hove Albion itself, taking in their top-division highs, brink-of-extinction lows and their resurrection under new owners, along with some of our shared players (get well soon, Michael Robinson). But it’ll keep for a few months. After the last few days I don’t think most of us really feel like a history lesson. What we want is three points on the board and a few goals for good measure.Pre-game formBrighton have built on last year’s exploits and sit comfortably clear of the relegation zone despite being tipped by many (including me) to go down. They embody that footballing cliché, the well organised team that pulls together to become more than the sum of its parts, and sit in 13th coming into this game having conceded fewer goals than six teams above them (including two of the top six). Although they haven’t managed to beat any of the big teams, they managed a draw against Arsenal and have pulled off some good results against hotly tipped midtable sides like Wolves, Manchester United and West Ham.They spent substantially during the summer and although £17m marquee signing Alireza Jahanbakhsh is struggling with injury, ex-Barcelona right back Martin Montoya and left back Bernado have grown into first team regulars. They’re also in a decent run of form, having drawn against Arsenal, beaten Everton and drawn away at West Ham in their last three league games, with Dutch forward Jürgen Locadia finally hitting form and chipping in with a couple of goals.As for us, I don’t think anyone can look at that Premier League table – the one that says: Played 21, Won 17, Lost 1, Goals 49, Conceded 10 – and not consider this season a huge success so far. If the Manchester City result was deflating and the Wolves game proved a domestic cup run would have to wait another year, it isn’t hard to take solace from the fact we were millimetres and a dodgy refereeing decision away from getting a result in the first game, and a fingertip away from doing the same away at a full-strength top-half team, with what were mostly second stringers and youth players. The worry of course is that in recent years this club has been a creature of momentum, pulling off strings of fantastic results before coming up short when the pressure is really on. Having said that, the signings of Van Dijk and Allisson have given us a steel at the back it feels like we haven’t had in years, and we still have the best front three in the division. I’m just about old enough to remember our last league title and this is the first time since then that we've had a rigid defence, exciting attack and a strong bench all at the same time. The only thing we need to cap it all off is a little bit of luck.The GameSo what’s the game going to look like? This is the probable Brighton line up:We won 1-0 against them at Anfield in August, a game we largely dominated despite playing well under par. They set up in a 4-5-1 with Glenn Murray as the lone striker and Anthony Knockaert and Solly March as wingers, and they did get a couple of chances. Overall, Brighton have looked strong at the Amex. Earlier on in the season they generally favoured a 4-4-1-1 in the big home games when playmaker Pascal Groß was fit, and gave United a going over, scoring three times in the first half, but lost 2-1 to both Spurs and Chelsea. Against Arsenal and Everton however, they reverted to the 4-5-1 with some success and I don’t think they’ll change for this game. We know what their strategy is going to be: defend tightly and try to steal a goal on the break. Interestingly, in all Brighton’s big games they’ve been easily second best in the first half but picked up steam noticeably toward the end, so ideally we should be looking to be close this one out early. Only three of the 10 outfield players above started against Bournemouth in the week and they still won 3-1 – they’re going to be up for this.As for us, injuries have weakened the defence and there’s been a lot of rotation in midfield. It’s tricky to get an exact idea of the team and if anything changes in the next few days I’ll adjust accordingly, but right now I would bet on this: Fabinho’s presence alongside VVD in defence will hopefully nullify any aerial threat somewhat but we’ll be relying on Henderson and Wijnaldum to block counter attacks and control the midfield with TAA and Robbo pushing up to help. The 4-2-3-1 has worked really well when we’ve been looking to penetrate the defences of weaker teams, and Brighton may well find it very tricky to cope with that kind of fluid front four.Après-FootballFor those travelling down, it’s worth mentioning that as well as great coffee, terrific burgers and miserable stretches of stones the locals call beaches, Brighton is home to one of the most fervent supporters groups outside of Liverpool, the Brighton Kop. The Amex stadium is outside of town near the village of Falmer, but The Anfield Wrap is doing a show at community venue the Brighthelm Centre in the middle of the city on Friday night, there’s going to be an away day party from 11am before the game at the Green Door Store (around the corner from Brighton station), and a charity gig at the Latest Music Bar after the game on the Saturday night. The pubs in the city are pretty good too.
Trent limped out of the warmup, apparently after aggravating an existing ankle injury.Declared himself fit though, and has started the game.
15 Groß puts a cross in for Murray who has a bit too much room. His header is thankfully harmless.
