6 hours ago
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Arne Slot admitted Liverpool was “lucky” at times against Brighton as he reflected on the performance, while also offering praise for Florian Wirtz for his influence.
Hugo Ekitike’s brace secured the much needed points in the Premier League for Liverpool, but the spotlight was firmly on Mohamed Salah as he made his first appearance since last weekend’s explosive interview at Leeds.
The Egyptian was warmly cheered onto the pitch, with his name echoing around Anfield after he supplied the corner for Ekitike’s second goal.
Fabian Hurzeler's side pushed hard late on in search of a way back into the contest, but wasted several promising chances and returned south empty-handed.
On the game, Slot said: ""Hard work. We had to work really hard for this win because we faced a very good team that kept going to the end.
"For the first time in weeks, I feel like we had a bit of luck today. We have a clean sheet and in other games we have conceded three without the other team having as many chances.
"In the second half in the moments they had, when we were together in and around our box. We had chances on the counter but I quite liked the way we played. Maybe we deserved this bit of luck, because of the mentality that we showed and the injuries and other things like that."
Starting on the left and drifting inside, Wirtz displayed his usual energy and sharpness in possession. He worked tirelessly to support Milos Kerkez and showed genuine quality on the ball, suggesting he is steadily adapting to the demands of the Premier League.
While there remains scope for improvement in protecting possession in dangerous areas, his work rate deserves recognition. He won nine of his 12 duels, the second-highest total on the day, and made more recoveries than any other outfielder with nine.
According to FotMob, Wirtz also created the second-most chances with three, behind Salah’s five, and recorded the joint second-most touches in the opposition box with eight.
On Wirtz, Slot added: ""The way he handles the ball. How comfortable he is with that. i think he is also one of the players I say when he is getting better and better. He is getting stronger and stronger. All the hard work the players have put in over the last few months is paying off.
"After so many games played it is a week where hopefully we can recover a little bit. There will be some training time."
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