Liverpool beat Brighton 2-0 after four-minute burst at Anfield
Report on Liverpool's 2-0 win over Brighton at Anfield, where an own goal and an Alexander Isak strike inside four minutes settled the match.
By Harvey Watkins,
Liverpool beat Brighton 2-0 at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, and the match was settled in a four-minute spell midway through the first half. An own goal by Pascal Groß in the 17th minute put the home side ahead, and Alexander Isak doubled the lead in the 21st. Neither side scored again.
Two goals in four minutes
The opening goal was credited to Groß as an own goal, which gave Liverpool the lead without one of their own players getting his name on the scoresheet. Within four minutes they had a second, this time through Isak. That gave Liverpool a two-goal cushion before the midway point of the first half, and they did not need anything more.
Everything that decided the result happened in that short spell. From the 21st minute to the final whistle there were no further goals at either end. For Brighton, the significant number is the zero. They did not find a way back into the match once the second goal went in, and Liverpool finished with a clean sheet.
A familiar pattern at Anfield
The result fits closely with how this fixture has gone recently. In the five previous meetings, going back to November 2024, Liverpool won three and Brighton two. All three of Liverpool's wins came at Anfield. Both of Brighton's came on their own ground.
- 2 Nov 2024: Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
- 19 May 2025: Brighton 3-2 Liverpool
- 13 Dec 2025: Liverpool 2-0 Brighton
- 14 Feb 2026: Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
- 21 Mar 2026: Brighton 2-1 Liverpool
Sunday's win makes it four from four for Liverpool at Anfield across that run. It is also the third home meeting in a row in which Brighton have failed to score, after the 2-0 in December 2025 and the 3-0 in February 2026. The last time Brighton scored at Anfield in this sequence was the 2-1 defeat in November 2024.
The scoreline itself repeats December's exactly. Across the six most recent meetings, Sunday's included, Liverpool have scored 12 goals to Brighton's six.
What the result tells us
It would be easy to make too much of one afternoon. This was Matchday 8, and a single 2-0 win, with half the scoring coming from an own goal, tells only part of a story. The useful evidence is in the pattern around it. In this fixture, home advantage has been close to decisive. Neither side has won away from home in the six most recent meetings.
That is still a small sample, and the two matches at Brighton were narrow, each settled by a single goal. So it would be unwise to read the venue split as a rule. Still, for Brighton, Anfield has offered little in recent seasons. They have not taken a point there in the last four visits and have not scored in the last three. Sunday did nothing to change that.
For Liverpool, it was an efficient afternoon. Two goals in four minutes were enough, and they kept Brighton out for the full match.