London, Oct 8: Captain Lewis Dunk scored a dramatic equaliser for Brighton to deny Jurgen Klopp three points on his eighth anniversary as Liverpool boss.
In an absorbing encounter, Simon Adingra fired past Alisson to give Brighton the lead after catching out Alexis Mac Allister, who was making his first return to his former club.
Klopp’s side levelled when Dunk’s misplaced pass ended with Darwin Nunez setting up Salah to sweep home, before Liverpool’s Egyptian forward struck from the penalty spot in first half stoppage time.
It was awarded after Pascal Gross dragged Dominik Szoboszlai down by his collar.Liverpool missed a golden chance to increase their lead after substitute Ryan Gravenberch, on for Harvey Elliott at the start of the second half, hit the bar from close range when it seemed easier to score.
It proved a costly miss as Dunk made it 2-2 in the 78th minute with a first-time finish from Solly March’s free-kick.Joao Pedro then missed a late chance to win it for the hosts in the closing stages, firing over when well-placed inside the box. Elsewhere, Wolves and Aston Villa settled for a share of the points after two goals in the space of two second-half minutes at Molineux.
Hwang Hee-chan opened the scoring early in the second half when he latched on to Pedro Neto’s cross, poking in at the near post with Wolves’ first shot on target in the game. Celebrations were short-lived however as Aston Villa hit back inside two minutes with defender Pau Torres netting his first goal for the club.
A lack of goalmouth action was the overriding feature of a disjointed first half that featured more yellow cards than shots on target as referee Rob Jones had his hands full in trying to keep a lid on a feisty West Midlands derby.
Aston Villa’s Matty Cash registered the only effort on goal when he met John McGinn’s cross in the opening 10 minutes, but it was straight at goalkeeper Jose Sa.
The second-half goals helped the game come to life and Wolves had a golden chance to snatch victory in the final 10 minutes when Sasa Kalajdzic squared for Neto, however, the Portuguese lacked composure as he blazed over from eight yards out.
Wolves had to hang on in stoppage time after they were reduced to 10 men shortly after the fourth official raised the board to signal for 12 additional minutes when Mario Lemina was shown a second yellow card for pulling back Nicolo Zaniolo.The draw moves Wolves up to 14th and four points clear of the relegation zone heading into the international break, while Villa stay fifth.In other game, West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus scored an 89th-minute equaliser to deny Newcastle United victory in a thriller at London Stadium.
In other matches Newcastle played a draw with West Ham 2-2 and Arsenal got better off Manchester City with 1-0 goal. (AP)
