Hugo Ekitike scored the fastest goal of the Premier League season and added a second from a corner as Liverpool beat Brighton 2-0 at Anfield on an afternoon dominated as much by Mohamed Salah's return as by the scoreline. The French striker struck after just 46 seconds following a defensive error, then headed in on the hour to lift the champions up to sixth and extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to five matches, while Brighton slipped to ninth after a third game without a win.
Brighton will wonder how they left with nothing. Fabian Hurzeler's side created enough to take at least a point, finishing with an expected goals figure of 1.91, 13 attempts and 26 touches in the Liverpool penalty area, yet they failed to convert a series of clear openings. At the other end, Salah came off the bench on 26 minutes to help tilt the match decisively in Liverpool's favour, providing the corner for Ekitike's second and, in the process, setting a new Premier League record of 277 goal involvements for a single club.
Fastest goal of the season gives Liverpool the ideal platform
Liverpool could hardly have scripted a better start. Brighton initially appeared to have snuffed out the hosts' first attack when Yankuba Minteh dispossessed Curtis Jones, making his 200th appearance for his boyhood club. But with time and space, the winger inexplicably swept a cross-field clearance across his own penalty area straight to Joe Gomez. The makeshift right-back met the ball with a brave, first-time header that dropped between Brighton's central defenders to Ekitike, who took a touch and unleashed a thunderous volley that crashed past Bart Verbruggen and in under the crossbar, timed at 46 seconds.