Paul Merson believes that the best Liverpool can hope for against Brighton on Saturday is a draw and insists that he is 'being kind' with his prediction of a 2-2 draw.
The Reds suffered a set-back in their pursuit of a Champions League qualification spot when their run of four straight league wins was ended by Brentford on January 2. A 2-2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup did little to reinforce the suggestion that the 3-1 loss at the Bees was a poor performance in isolation and now Sky Sports pundit Merson does not see things getting any easier for Jurgen Klopp's side when they visit the south coast this weekend to face Roberto De Zerbi's side.
Merson told Sportskeeda: "The one thing you can be sure about with this game is goals. Arsenal blew Brighton out of the water last week, but Brighton have won their games by 4-1 and 5-1 margins since then. They're scoring goals for fun.
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"Liverpool still have a shot at the top four, but they're eight points behind Newcastle at the moment. We haven't played as many games as we usually play in the Premier League because of the World Cup, and we'll know more about their top-four chances by the end of February.
"Liverpool won't be the same without Virgil Van Dijk in the side. He's their Rolls Royce. This is a major game for Liverpool, and I don't see Brighton losing this game. I'm going to go with a draw, and I'm being kind to Liverpool here."
Liverpool are currently sixth in the Premier League, eight points adrift of four-placed Manchester United. The Seagulls are just a point behind the Reds in eight position.
Jurgen Klopp could be without both Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino for the trip to the AMEX Community Stadium. Neither trained with the first team squad on Thursday and it has since been confirmed that Nunez is suffering with a minor injury that has kept him off the training pitch all week.
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