Liverpool beat Brighton 2-0 at Anfield as Isak's goal and a Gross own goal seal win

The opening goals

Liverpool won their first home Premier League match of the season on Sunday, 25 October, beating Brighton 2-0 at Anfield. The opener came in the 17th minute, when a low shot from Florian Wirtz took a deflection off Pascal Gross and beat Bart Verbruggen. The goal was officially credited to Gross as an own goal. Four minutes later Bradley Barcola's cross, sent in after Olivier Boscagli had lost possession, found Alexander Isak, who finished for his sixth league goal of the season. Isak has scored six goals in seven league appearances this campaign, and the pair of goals arrived in a spell that gave the home side control of the match.

How Brighton were kept out

Brighton started the stronger side and had the first real chance of the game, when Yasin Ayari fired over after Diego Gómez's pass had released Pascal Gross. Ayari later struck the right-hand post after Alisson lost the ball while playing out from the back, a moment that could have brought the visitors back into the match. Brighton had kept a clean sheet in all competitions for more than nine hours before the kick-off, and these were the first league goals they had conceded since a 1-1 draw with Leeds on 5 September. Ronald Araújo, playing on the right of the back line, was involved in both halves of the Liverpool defence's work, crossing for the first goal and making a block while on the floor to deny Maxim De Cuyper. Liverpool then kept Brighton's attackers largely away from the penalty area, ending a run of four successive Premier League wins for the visitors.

Second half and the table

Brighton improved after half-time, pushing wide players forward and creating more pressure down the flanks, but they could not turn that into a goal. Florian Wirtz went off after stretching to stop a Brighton attack, and Trey Nyoni came on for him in the 65th minute. BBC player ratings gave Barcola and Wirtz 8 out of 10 each, while Isak received a 7. The result was Brighton's second defeat in 13 matches in all competitions in 2026-27. Liverpool's fourth straight win in all competitions lifted them to fourth in the Premier League, one point behind Brighton, who stayed third. The victory also came after a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City earlier this month, and it was Andoni Iraola's first league win at Anfield as Liverpool manager since he replaced the sacked Arne Slot in the summer.

What comes next

Liverpool's next fixture is a Carabao Cup match against Chelsea on Wednesday, 28 October. The Reds will be looking to keep up a run in which Isak, Barcola, Wirtz and Cody Gakpo have all been part of the attack.