Liverpool's £100m front four clicks as Isak and Wirtz sink Brighton for first home league win

Liverpool ended their wait for a first home Premier League victory of the season on Sunday, beating Brighton 2-0 at Anfield to move into fourth place in the table, six points behind leaders Manchester City and Arsenal.

The result was built on a promising first-half display from Liverpool’s expensively assembled attack. Florian Wirtz opened the scoring in the 17th minute — the goal credited as a deflection off Pascal Gross rather than the German — before Alexander Isak doubled the lead four minutes later, converting a Barcola cross for his sixth goal in seven league appearances this season.

The trio of £100m-plus signings — Isak, Bradley Barcola and Wirtz — combined with Cody Gakpo to form a front four that fans have been waiting to see fire in unison. Brighton arrived as one of the Premier League’s top-scoring sides but had also kept a clean sheet across all competitions for over nine hours before kick-off, making the two goals all the more significant.

On-loan Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo was another standout performer. Playing at right-back, the centre-back provided the cross that led to the opener and produced a remarkable headed clearance while flat on the floor to deny Maxim De Cuyper a chance shortly after the second goal went in.

Brighton had their moments, particularly in the opening exchanges. Yasin Ayari blazed over a clear early opportunity after Diego Gomez released Pascal Gross, and the visitors began to grow into the game in the second half before Liverpool’s substitutions managed the tempo. By the 77th minute, Wirtz, Isak and Barcola had all been withdrawn, with Gakpo remaining as the sole survivor of the starting front four.

Fabian Hurzeler’s side were also hampered by the early loss of right-back Ferdi Kadioglu to injury after just six minutes, though only three players were retained from their Europa League squad during the week.

The win extends Liverpool’s unbeaten run to four matches across all competitions and three wins from their last four in the league, providing timely momentum ahead of a Carabao Cup tie against Chelsea on Wednesday.