Graham Potter makes 'toe-to-toe with Jurgen Klopp' claim as Brighton force Liverpool to cling on

Brighton came closest of any opponent in six months to ending Liverpool’s 24-match unbeaten run as Graham Potter’s side recovered from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Anfield.

After last week’s demolition of Manchester United, the sight of the hosts establishing what appeared a comfortable advantage after only 24 minutes thanks to Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane appeared to spell trouble for the Seagulls.

However, pre-match Jurgen Klopp had said he expected a tough examination and that is what he got as Enock Mwepu’s first Premier League goal just before half-time was followed by a Leandro Trossard equaliser and in fairness Brighton had better chances to win it from that point.

Part of their success was becoming only the second team this season after Burnley – here in August – to stop Mohamed Salah find the net as his 10-match goalscoring run was brought to a halt with his only chance seeing an effort ruled out for offside.

Credit must go to the visitors, and their manager, who never cowered in the face of Liverpool’s pressure and had by far the better of the second half to be fully worthy of their point.

They are in good company as only title contenders Chelsea and Manchester City have left Anfield with anything other than a defeat this season and to have Liverpool’s nerves jangling as they did in the last 20 minutes was an indication of how their focused and committed approach paid dividends.

Potter said, “It was a fantastic performance from the players. All of them played with such courage and with such intensity in what I thought was a fantastic game.

"Both teams went toe-to-toe and it’s a really good point with a performance we can build on.”

Potter admitted that had Sadio Mane’s goal to make it 3-0 been allowed it might have been hard for Albion to mount their spirited comeback.

“They were playing well at that point and we had a little bit of trouble putting pressure on them, but we changed it a little bit and once we did that we had a bit more of a foothold in the game.

"We survived going 3-0 down, if that goes in it would have made it very difficult for us so it was a key moment. But from then we were amazing against a wonderful opponent and we’re delighted with the performance.”

Potter senses a growing belief among his players that can keep them moving forward.

“They believe in each other and that’s a fantastic thing. We’ve had a challenging, but good week. We haven’t got the results we wanted, but the performances have been really good.

“We like the direction it’s going in, but we’ve got to keep improving."