Salah secures vital Liverpool victory to keep pressure on rivals

Premier League: Liverpool 2 Brighton 1 

 Liverpool's stepped up their Premier League title hopes with a hard-earned win over bogey team Brighton at Anfield.

They had to it the hard way though after former Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck had stunned the Kop by putting Brighton in front after only 87 seconds.

It raised the Seagulls' hopes that manager Roberto De Zerbi - linked as a possible successor to Jurgen Klopp - might stretch his unbeaten run against Liverpool to five games.

But Luis Diaz equalised before half-time and Mo Salah, starting his first League game since New Year's Day, struck his 22nd goal of the season to seal a vital victory in front of Anfield's biggest-ever League home crowd of 60,061.

They had to survive some nervy moments towards the end though before celebrating a win that put them top - for a few hours at least - and ramped up the pressure on title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal before their clash at the Etihad Stadium.

Liverpool were caught cold by Welbeck's stunner in the second minute after allowing Simon Adringa to run half the length of the pitch unchallenged.

Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk both tried to cut out the danger but the ball fell to Welbeck who fired home a stunning shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Liverpool were stunned and took a while to get into their stride but started to pile on the pressure with Salah seeing efforts either blocked or fly off the target.

But they got their reward with an equaliser after 27 minutes. After Brighton had partially cleared a corner, Salah headed the ball back over their defensive line and thanks to Joel Veltman's deflection it fell to Diaz who volleyed home from close range.

Liverpool, kicking towards the Kop,