Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler makes Anfield atmosphere admission after Liverpool win

Fabian Hurzeler admitted that his Brighton side was influenced by the atmosphere at Anfield after Liverpool came from a goal down to win 2-1 on Saturday.

The Reds were second best in all areas throughout the first half and Brighton was good value for its one-goal lead at the break after Ferdi Kadioglu got the better of Caoimhin Kelleher with a brilliant strike.

However, Brighton failed to exert the same amount of control over the game in the second half, and Liverpool scored twice in quick succession — through Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah — to turn the game on its head and record a win that takes the Reds back to the top of the table.

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Hurzeler admitted Liverpool's fans had a bearing on the outcome of the match. He said: "I only experienced [Anfield] atmosphere on the television so far and now in person and these moments we needed to stay calm. We had solutions but we couldn't find them and the Liverpool dominance became bigger.

"The performance was easily good enough to win this game, especially the first half. We got a little bit attracted by the atmosphere and these things are important for the results."

Hurzeler praised the individual quality in Liverpool's ranks, and acknowledged that his side needed to maintain its first-half performance for the entire match in order to have any chance of recording a victory.

"There was a big chance today," Hurzeler said. "If we score the second goal, or we could have even got a third or fourth, in the first half then it is a different game. Then of course they have individual quality. They scored out of nowhere with a cross, they scored with a shot from outside the box. In this league there are top quality players. We have to be at the maximum and today we were not for 90 minutes. Then you can't win the game."

Saturday turned out to be a very good day for Liverpool, with both Manchester City and Arsenal losing. City went down 2-1 to Bournemouth, while Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat away to Newcastle, allowing Liverpool to open up a two-point lead over City at the top of the table, as well as a seven-point lead over Arsenal. Arsenal has now dropped to fourth place in the table, behind Nottingham Forest.