Liverpool not in title race after Brighton loss, says Robertson

(Reuters) - Liverpool are no longer in the Premier League title race following Wednesday's damaging 1-0 home defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion, defender Andy Robertson has said.

Juergen Klopp's champions failed to score for the third successive home league game and managed only one effort on target as they fell seven points behind leaders Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

Liverpool host Pep Guardiola's men on Sunday and Robertson said his team need to find a way to rediscover their spark ahead of that clash.

"Any game against Manchester City is a big one," Robertson told reporters. "As this moment stands, we're not in the title race. We are seven points behind them and they have a game in hand.

"I'm sure they'd say the same if they were potentially 10 points behind. We need to get back to the Liverpool everyone knows.

"We're still a good team. We don't turn into a bad team overnight."

Liverpool have been hit by injuries to key players such as Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, and former England international Peter Crouch said a lack of squad depth had proved costly.

"They were superhuman last year and I think we are seeing a human side to them, understandably so," Crouch, who played for Liverpool from 2005 to 2008, told BT Sport.

"Having said that they are a title winning side, won the Champions League, they should have a deeper squad."

(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel)