Liverpool 2-0 Brighton Stats: Ekitiké Double Downs Seagulls at Anfield

Hugo
Ekitiké scored a goal in each half to help Liverpool defeat
Brighton 2-0 in the Premier
League at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah playing a starring role
of the bench.

Liverpool
increased their unbeaten run to five games in all competitions
thanks to a Hugo
Ekitiké brace at Anfield against Brighton
& Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.

The Frenchman scored a goal in each half, with Mohamed
Salah making a big impact after coming on as a first-half
substitute in what could potentially be his final act as a
Liverpool player.

Arne Slot’s side got off to the best possible start, with
Ekitiké capitalising on some defensive indecisiveness from Brighton
to hook the ball past Bart Verbruggen just 46 seconds into the
game.

Lewis Dunk failed to deal with Joe Gomez’s header into the box,
and the French striker raced onto the ball to score the quickest
goal of the 2025-26 Premier League season so far. It was
Liverpool’s fastest goal in the league for six and a half years,
since Naby Keïta netted their fastest ever goal in the competition
after 15 seconds versus Huddersfield in April 2019.

Following his very public comments last weekend on his
relationship (or lack of) with Slot, Salah came off the bench to
replace and injured Joe Gomez on 26 minutes. The Egyptian will head
of the 2025 Africa
Cup of Nations after this game, and it remains to be seen
whether he’ll play another game in a Liverpool shirt.

Salah played a key role in Liverpool’s second goal, whipping in
a corner that found the head of a leaping Ekitiké to net past
Verbruggen and double the Reds’ advantage in front of the Kop. It
was the Liverpool top scorer’s 10th goal of the season in all
competitions, double any other player at the club.

If it does prove to be Salah’s final act as a Liverpool player,
it was fitting that one of the best players in their history set a
new record on his way out. His assist for Ekitiké took him onto 277
goal involvements in 302 Premier League appearances for Liverpool –

the outright most by any player for a single club in the
competition, overtaking Wayne Rooney’s 276 for Manchester
United.

While Brighton had chances, and it certainly wasn’t a dominant
Liverpool performance, the Seagulls struggled to cope with the
Reds’ attacking double act at Anfield, with Ekitiké attempting
seven shots overall and Salah having three of his own while
creating five chances for his teammates. Salah should have added a
goal in injury time, too, firing over the bar from close range
after great work from Federico Chiesa.

Still seven points off league-leaders Arsenal, with the Gunners
expected to extend that back to 10 points with a home game against
Wolves later on Saturday, this victory hasn’t changed much in terms
of their title challenge, but it was a fifth consecutive game
without defeat (W3 D2) and follows a
great away victory at Internazionale in midweek.

Slot’s side might not be reaching their heights of his first
season at the club, but the reigning Premier League champions are
building some consistency ahead of a crucial period of the
campaign.

Our Opta match centre delivers you all the
Liverpool vs Brighton & Hove Albion stats from their Premier
League meeting at Anfield on 13 December 2025.