LIVERPOOL maintained their relentless pursuit of Manchester City with a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion to close back to within three points of the English Premier League leaders.
The Reds lost for just the third time this term in their midweek clash with Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League.
But they marched on with an eighth straight league win in Saturday’s contest at the Amex Stadium.
Luis Diaz bravely headed Liverpool into a 19th-minute lead by getting in front of Robert Sanchez, who was perhaps fortunate to avoid any action for clattering into the forward.
Mohamed Salah added a second from the penalty kick spot —- Liverpool’s 2,000th goal in the modern Premier League.
It helped to increase the pressure on Manchester City ahead of Monday’s trip to Crystal Palace.
Brighton had gone three league games without defeat to Liverpool but fell behind in the opening quarter of the contest to Diaz’s second goal in a Liverpool shirt.
The former FC Porto winger attacked Joel Matip’s chipped pass over the top and got his head to it.
But he was unable to celebrate the goal after being wiped out by Sanchez.
Referee Mike Dean did not check back the incident on the monitor, meaning Sanchez stayed on the field, but Albion’s reprieve counted for little as Salah doubled the Reds’ lead.
Having missed a couple of presentable opportunities, the Egypt international fired a penalty kick right down the middle after Naby Keita’s shot hit Yves Bissouma on the arm.
Manchester City visit Crystal Palace on Monday.(DPA)
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