Ignore Gerrard and Liverpool will beat Brighton without Salah – Opta

The build-up to our Brighton match has been dominated by discussions that stretch well beyond the tactical details of the game itself.

We head into the weekend backed by the Opta Analyst supercomputer, which gives us a 52.8% chance of victory and expects Liverpool to extend our unbeaten run to five.

That projection reflects a group rediscovering rhythm, even when all the noise around Mo Salah has threatened to derail everything.

Arne Slot has kept his composure throughout, as shown during the Champions League trip to Milan where the late penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai sealed a crucial win.

That performance was the strongest sign yet that this squad remain committed to our head coach even as Salah deals with the consequences of his explosive interview.

The Egyptian said the club had “thrown him under the bus” after the Leeds draw, words that led to him being removed from team activities and forced to watch events unfold from home.

That disciplinary step came at the same time Steven Gerrard publicly urged calm, using the line that Salah “said a couple of lines within the interview that are wrong and I think he needs to apologise” before then insisting “We need him and hopefully the situation can be sorted out in the coming hours and days“.

Liverpool vs Brighton prediction: Opta expects Reds victory

Opta’s model sees us winning more than half of the 10,000 simulations, with the Seagulls at just 23.0%, figures that underline the confidence in how we have been performing without our long-time talisman.

We are unbeaten in four since he was left out of the XI, taking two wins and two draws despite freak moments against Sunderland and Leeds affecting the scorelines.

This weekend may extend that run, especially with the visitors winless in December for eight matches, and with our front line gaining fluency through combinations involving Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak.

Brighton have quality, but they also concede chances, and Opta’s expectation that we edge this contest reflects where our metrics have been trending.

Salah dilemma grows as Liverpool attempt to build momentum

Whether the Egyptian is reintegrated now or after AFCON remains the major question, and the club know that another game without him risks deepening the divide.

Mido’s recent assessment added further weight to that reading, especially when he argued that once a player “loses this confidence with the manager… it’s hard to be fixed”, before advising “I think it’s time for him to leave”.

Yet the dressing room’s reaction in Italy showed a united group, focused on results and grateful for the clarity being provided by Slot.

We had lost six of seven with Salah involved from the start but remain unbeaten in the four without him, a contrast that explains why this selection call feels so significant.

We are at a crossroads, and the hope now is that the situation resolves cleanly so that all of us can focus on climbing the table rather than handling internal conflict.

Liverpool need everyone pulling in one direction again, and a win over Brighton would go some way to moving the conversation back to where it belongs.

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