Díaz and Salah on target as Liverpool beat Brighton to stay in title hunt

Three points forward; back to a three-point gap. And on goes the world’s premier staring contest. Blinking is strictly prohibited. The focus was on Mohamed Salah after his agent, Ramy Abbas Issa, responded to Jürgen Klopp’s comments about a contract extension in a very 2022 manner by posting seven laughing emojis. But the Egyptian did not seem distracted as his emphatic second-half penalty sealed an eighth straight league victory.

And Luis Díaz once again showed why, should the worst happen, life can go on. The speed of his adjustment to the Premier League has been remarkable; to say he has hit the ground running would be like describing Usain Bolt as a jogger. On his first league appearance away from Anfield, Díaz flicked, kicked, twisted and spun to the ground. Each time he got up, including after he nodded Liverpool ahead by bravely beating Robert Sánchez to the ball.

Brighton are demob unhappy. They are neither upwardly or downwardly mobile this season, with this – their fifth straight defeat – making for their worst Premier League run. Home discomfort has seen them win just one in 11 but, while boos once again rang out at full-time, they were aimed at referee Mike Dean. Really though, they were born from frustration. If anything, the hosts should have been a man down.

With Liverpool competing for multiple trophies, Klopp is having to manage his side like a rotisserie, turning his squad carefully to ensure just the right level of “done”. One change from last weekend’s laboured victory over West Ham saw the February player of the month, Joël Matip, return. Not only is Matip’s defending assured, his mazy runs have become a trademark. Few defenders in the division operate so well in the final third, and with his – and