Danny Welbeck scored twice Today to lift Brighton to a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at the Amex Stadium, a result that deepened the defending champions’ Champions League qualification concerns and gave England manager Thomas Tuchel something uncomfortable to think about heading into the international break.
The Brighton striker’s 11th and 12th Premier League goals of the season make him the top-scoring Englishman in the division, surpassing Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who was named in the England squad ahead of him on Friday. At 35, this is the most prolific league campaign of Welbeck’s career.
Welbeck’s goals exposed Liverpool’s defensive disorganization
Brighton’s first goal arrived from a sequence that told the story of Liverpool’s afternoon in miniature. A misplaced pass from Curtis Jones gave the ball away near the touchline. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, drafted into the starting lineup after Alisson was ruled out on Friday night, overhit a pass to Ibrahima Konaté, who let it run under his foot. From the resulting throw-in, a deep cross was headed back across the six-yard box and Welbeck, unmarked, headed in from close range.
The second goal followed a similar pattern. Yankuba Minteh crossed from the right and nobody in a Liverpool shirt tracked Jack Hinshelwood’s run to the back post. Welbeck was again left completely free and turned the ball in without pressure.
Mamardashvili was busy throughout and largely sharp in his shot-stopping, making several important interventions to keep Liverpool in the game. His handling in possession was another matter. The only reason Liverpool were still level at halftime was a gift from Lewis Dunk, whose attempted backward header without checking allowed Milos Kerkez to flick the ball over Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen for an equalizer.
Liverpool’s injury problems compounded a difficult afternoon
Liverpool arrived in Brighton carrying significant absences. Mohamed Salah and Alisson were both already unavailable, ruled out in the days following the midweek Champions League win over Galatasaray. Hugo Ekitiké, one of the two fit strikers available to Arne Slot, limped off in the eighth minute with a dead leg, though the Liverpool manager suggested afterward that the issue was not serious and that the forward could have returned quickly if required.
The loss of Ekitiké so early removed what little offensive structure Liverpool had managed to build, and the second half was Brighton’s. The Seagulls were sharper, more organized and created more meaningful chances. Slot acknowledged after the match that his side struggled to maintain the level they showed in midweek, a pattern that has repeated itself throughout a season defined by its inconsistency.
Today’s defeat was Liverpool’s 10th in the Premier League this season. The last time the club lost that many league games in a single campaign was in 2015-16, when they finished eighth. The Reds now sit fifth in the table and face a genuine fight to secure Champions League qualification for next season, with Chelsea and Aston Villa both capable of overtaking them depending on their results this weekend.
Welbeck’s absence from the England squad invites scrutiny
Brighton’s head coach Fabian Hürzeler praised Welbeck not only for his goals but for the role he plays within the squad beyond the pitch, describing him as a connector across different ages and cultures within the team and noting that the mentality he brings is exactly what a tournament environment requires.
Welbeck, who has 16 goals in 42 international appearances, was measured in his response to being left out of Tuchel’s latest squad. He said he focuses on what he can control and expressed contentment with how his football is going, leaving the door open without demanding to be let through it.
The case for including him is not straightforward at 35, but the counterargument is harder to dismiss now than it was a week ago. No Englishman in the Premier League is scoring at a higher rate, and the World Cup is approaching. Brighton move up to eighth in the table with the win. Liverpool head into the international break to reflect on what is becoming an increasingly difficult final stretch.
