Brighton vs Liverpool prediction: Reds to edge out Seagulls on the road? | OneFootball

Holders Liverpool travel to the south coast on Wednesday to take on Brighton in the EFL Cup after claiming a point against Arsenal at the weekend (7:30pm, Sky Sports+).

Liverpool came from behind twice to earn a share of the spoils, although the result saw them slip to second in the Premier League table and brought to an end their eight-game winning run.

Brighton also played out a 2-2 draw at the weekend but the outcome was different though after they let slip a 2-0 lead to draw with the then-bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Danny Welbeck scored his sixth goal of the season before Evan Ferguson made it 2-0 with just five minutes to go, but there was still enough time for Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Cunha to strike and earn a much-needed point for Gary O’Neil’s side.

Despite Saturday’s draw Brighton are performing well, with new boss Fabian Hürzeler settling well into life at the Amex and he will be targeting the scalp of the holders to book his side’s place in the next round of the competition.

Betting sites have installed Liverpool as the favourites to progress at odds of 11/10, while Brighton are priced up at 12/5.

Brighton have made a bright start to life under Hürzeler. The Seagulls have won four, drawn four and lost just one of their opening nine games, with that defeat coming at Stamford Bridge last month, when Cole Palmer scored four in a 4-2 win for Chelsea.

To get to this stage of the League Cup, the Seagulls have played two matches, beating Crawley 4-0 in the second round and Wolves 3-2 last time out. Brighton’s best run in this competition came in the 1978/79 season when they reached the quarter-finals before they were knocked out by Burnley.

They have reached the last 16 in four of their last five seasons so can they go one better this time around? The challenge of the holders is a daunting one, but if Brighton want to make a trophy breakthrough they will have to beat teams of Liverpool’s calibre.

The Reds though have only played one game in the EFL Cup this term, due to their Champions League involvement. Arne Slot’s men duly hammered West Ham 5-1 at Anfield, with Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo scoring the goals.

Despite the departure of Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool have carried on where they left off last season, as they won the competition for a record 10th time, Virgil van Dijk scoring the only goal of the game against Chelsea in extra time to secure the title.

Football betting sites have odds of 7/1 on Liverpool making it 11 EFL Cup wins in March, or 16/1 on Brighton winning the competition for the first time.

The two sides have met twice before in the League Cup and Liverpool won both, first in 1985 when they won 4-0 at Anfield and more recently in 2011 when goals from Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt gave the Reds a 2-1 at the newly opened Amex Stadium against the Championship side.

Since facing West Ham in the last round Liverpool have taken the lead in five of their last six matches, in all competitions, the only time they went behind was against Arsenal on Sunday. That coupled with the fact that both sides have scored in four of the last five meetings means we are expecting goals in this fixture.

Regardless of who Slot starts, we know from the West Ham game that he is not afraid to bring on his big guns to make sure of the win. Odds of 14/1 are available on Liverpool to win 3-1 or 8/1 on 2-1 and the fact Liverpool have conceded just seven goals in 13 games so far we can’t really see Brighton scoring more than one.

You can still find value on both teams to score and a Liverpool win on betting apps at 13/5, which is appealing to us.

If you want something a bit different then William Hill are offering a good #YourOdds bet, with Brighton to have over four shots on target and Liverpool to have over seven at 6/1.

If we look at the stats in the Premier League so far, both teams are in the top 10 for the number of shots on target from their nine games. Liverpool have managed 53, which is behind just Man City and Tottenham, while Brighton are joint ninth with 43.

Add to this the fact that Liverpool had 11 in their only appearance in this competition so far and Brighton have 17 from their opening two games this seems good value for two attacking sides.

We feel that neither side will back down from the challenge. Hürzeler has a progressive approach and will not back down despite facing a talented Liverpool team that will relish space on the counter.

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