Liverpool faces reunion with Brighton star who caught Jurgen Klopp's eye following layoff

• Liverpool FC News
• Liverpool FC

Liverpool is set to face a familiar foe in their key clash against Brighton on Saturday, with Arne Slot taking the Reds to the south coast for a key Premier League game

Jurgen Klopp has previous with Kaoru Mitoma(Image: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Liverpool is set to face off against a Brighton forward who Jurgen Klopp was a huge fan of as the Reds travel south to face the Seagulls on the south coast.

The reigning Premier League champions take on Brighton at the American Express Stadium in the early kick-off on Saturday afternoon where a win would lift them above Aston Villa into fourth place - for the time being at least.

Arne Slot's side have already beaten the Seagulls twice this season, first defeating them 2-0 at Anfield in the reverse fixture in December before besting them 3-0 in the FA Cup fourth round a month later.

While Fabian Hurzeler's team have failed to score a single goal against the Reds this campaign, the return of Kaoru Mitoma could surely strike fear in what has been an inconsistent Liverpool defence.

It's been the worst goalscoring season of the Japan star's career in Brighton with just two goals in 19 league games while having suffered with foot and ankle injuries.

He's since recovered from the latter after missing his side's 1-0 win against Brighton but Hurzeler confirmed his fitness for the weekend trip to Anfield.

Arne Slot is in need of a win on Saturday(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)

The German said in Friday's pre-match press conference: "Mitoma will be back to face Liverpool." Despite his lack of form in front of goal, the 28-year-old's previous exploits against the Reds saw him earn heavy praise from ex-boss Jurgen Klopp.

Mitoma scored a stoppage-time winner for Brighton in their 2-1 win over Liverpool in January 2023 to knock the Premier League giants out of the FA Cup.

The winger used his trickery to get past Joe Gomez before smashing home a volley from close-range to leave Alisson Becker in no man's land.

In a post-match interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Klopp complimented Mitoma's performance as he said: "We came here after a game a few weeks ago when we weren’t even close to ourselves.

"Today we played a better game but we conceded two goals from set-pieces and that is not allowed in any way. On the left side Robbo was ok because we helped him but on the other side Trent didn’t get the support. Mitoma is really good so, of course, it was tough.

"We could have defended both goals better. The first is deflected but we can probably block the shot. It doesn’t feel great. In time we might see the positives but we wanted to get the next round. Congratulations to Brighton."