Liverpool vs Brighton and Hove Albion Timeline & H2H Stats

You would be forgiven for thinking that Liverpool versus Brighton & Hove Albion is something of a modern rivalry, simply because of how long the South coast club spent outside of the top-flight. In reality, however, it is a matchup that took place for the first time in the FA Cup back in 1908. It was the first of February when Liverpool and Brighton drew 1-1 at Anfield before Liverpool won the replay 3-0. It is probably the fact that they didn’t meet in the league until the third of September 1958 that leads many people to think that they aren’t teams that have been going hammer and tong at each other over the years.

It is probably not fair to even refer to it as a ‘rivalry’, given the fact that the attitude of both sets of supporters has always been friendly to one another. When Brighton & Hove Albion fans have turned up at Anfield over the years, they have been one of the few sides to sing about their own team rather than singing songs about ‘poverty’ or being ‘victims’. For their part, Liverpool supporters enjoy a trip to the Amex on account of the fact that they get to stay behind afterwards and have a few drinks on the concourse, not held back on the terraces or forced out of the stadium in a distinctly unfriendly manner by angry stewards.

A Once One-Sided Rivalry

The reality of the early days of whatever ‘rivalry’ Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion can be said to have is that the matches were few and far between. In fact, their first 15 meetings were spread over a period of 73 years. That the Reds won eight of them and lost just one, drawing the rest, is indicative of just how dominant the Merseyside club were over their Southern counterparts. There was another period of dominance for the Reds between the October of 1985 and the November of 2020, with the clubs playing one another 12 times. They games were spread out, but Liverpool won ten of them and drew the other two.

The sporadic nature of the matches is the key thing, but even with that in mind it is still worth noting that it took until 2023 for Brighton to win back-to-back matches. Just like buses, the two wins came along in quick succession. The first came courtesy of a 3-0 win in the Premier League, then the Seagulls followed that up with a 2-1 victory in the FA Cup. It is a rivalry that Liverpool have dominated over the years, but that was largely owing to the fact that Brighton weren’t even in the same league as them for large periods and meetings were mostly consigned to the likes of the FA Cup and League Cup in a decade Liverpool dominated everyone.

Liverpool’s Full Match History Against Brighton