Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed his side’s maturity as Premier League contenders after breaking down an obdurate Brighton thanks to Mohamed Salah’s 50th-minute penalty in a 1-0 win on Saturday. Liverpool were far from their fluent best on England’s south coast, but ground out a vital win to move seven points clear of City at the top of the table thanks to a 13th clean sheet in 22 league games this season. “The headline before the game was ‘be ready’, the headline after the game is ‘very mature’,” said Klopp. Salah was given too much room inside the area to turn and Pascal Gross then hauled down last season’s Premier League player of the year. That could have proved costly when Florin Andone escaped in behind the Liverpool defence in stoppage time, but his low cross found no takers.

Source: Egypt Independent January 12, 2019 18:00 UTC