Liverpool head into the break at Brighton and Hove Albion level, with Danny Welbeck powering home a fierce header for the hosts, before Milos Kerkez spared the Reds’ blushes with a well-taken equaliser.
After playing late into the night against Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday, this has been a very sharp turnaround in the fixture schedule for Arne Slot’s men.
That was possibly evident in Liverpool’s rusty start, which saw Welbeck open the scoring for Fabian Hurzeler’s energetic hosts.
Thankfully, despite an injury issue with Ekitike souring proceedings even more, the score at the half-time interval is 1-1, due to the Kerkez’s ingeniously taken equaliser.
Here are the ReadLiverpool half-time player ratings, as several Reds shirts have struggled to get going during the lunchtime kick-off.
Giorgi Mamardashvili – 5
Coming in for just his fifth Premier League start of the season, Mamardashvili would have been hoping for a clean sheet, soaking up the Brighton sunshine.
Instead, he has had to fish the ball out of his net after Welbeck thundered his 11th league goal of the campaign past him.
Jeremie Frimpong – 5
Frimpong has grown into the contest the more the match had developed, with a pleasing four tackles and duels won, alongside the ex-Bayer Leverkusen defender bursting forward with pace to burn.
Ibrahima Konate – 5
Konate has won all but one of his duels so far,as the soon-to-be out of contract centre-back could have potentially done more to try and thwart Welbeck’s opener.
Virgil Van Dijk – 4
Van Dijk was also an unusual bystander to the action, as the former Arsenal striker broke the deadlock.
The usually rock-solid performer has further been uncharacteristically shaky with the ball at his feet, despite only amassing a limited 25 touches of the ball.
Milos Kerkez – 7
For much of the first half, Kerkez had been putting in an unconvincing shift.
That was until he became Liverpool’s unlikely goalscoring hero, when bagging this quick-thinking equaliser, which was a lovely looped finish that Bart Verbruggen couldn’t deny for the hosts.
Ryan Gravenberch – 6
Gravenberch hasn’t quite been as lively in the same way as Kerkez has, but he has gone about his business so far in his typically stylish manner.
Winning two ground duels, and only misplacing two of his passes in the South Coast heat, Gravenberch will be hoping he can collect a goal or an assist in the second 45 minutes, to guide the Reds to a victory.
Alexis Mac Allister – 6
Playing as the most advanced midfielder today, in a slightly reshuffled set-up owing to Mohamed Salah’s injury, Mac Allister has shone in spurts against his ex-employers.
Attempting two shots at Verbruggen’s net so far, the number ten could provide a moment of match-winning quality in the second half to follow.
Florian Wirtz – 6
Having accumulated eight chances being created in the Champions League, it was a no-brainer that Wirtz would start this midday meeting.
He hasn’t quite been the same livewire he was against Galatasaray, but he has managed one key pass for his troubles.
Dominik Szoboszlai – 6
While Wirtz would gain many of the post-match plaudits, Szoboszlai was undoubtedly the man-of-the-match winner after Wednesday night’s thumping 4-0 triumph.
He has worked his socks off relentlessly again at the Amex, but no goal has been forthcoming as of yet, to match his Champions League heroics.
Cody Gakpo – 5
Gakpo has very much benefitted from the last-minute reshuffle Slot has had to make, with Salah sidelined, as the Dutch attacker leads the line today.
He has only managed one effort at the Brighton goal so far, though, as he been largely passive.
Hugo Ekitike – 4
Ekitike would have been raring to go at the Amex, having bagged a double against the Seagulls earlier on in the season.
Instead of adding to his ever-rising goal tally for the Reds, though, he had to come off the pitch with just eight minutes gone, owing to a worrying injury.
Alexander Isak is set to be back in the near future for Slot and Co. but this unwanted development will still be a concern.
Substitutes
Curtis Jones – 5
Jones would come on in place of the injury-stricken Frenchman, and he has been rather forgettable to watch so far, with zero shots registered.
