Liverpool moved one step closer to another trip to Wembley this season with a 6-1 thrashing of Championship side Brighton in the FA Cup 5th round tie at Anfield on Sunday.
The Reds were helped by three own goals scored by the visitors who looked dangerous after equalizing in the first half. Martin Skrtel gave Liverpool the lead by a near-post header off Steven Gerrard’s accurate corner-kick. But LuaLua made it 1-1 for Brighton within eight minutes after Skrtel’s goal.
The team’s were looking equally strong and could have finished the first half at 1-1. But Liverpool had their share of luck today as Bridcutt scored an own goal from Glen Johnson’s goal-bound header.
In the second half, the Merseyside outfit raised their game and their good passing was rewarded with a goal by Andy Carroll off Stewart Downing’s cross. That almost sealed the game but a lot of drama was yet to be witnessed as Brighton scored two more own goals, Bridcutt scoring his second which made the score 5-1.
Luis Suarez was then presented an opportunity to take a spot-kick but he did not make the most of it. But, five minutes later, he compensated for that penalty miss by scoring Liverpool’s sixth goal with a simple header.
Liverpool managed a comfortable win on Merseyside but London clubs failed to impress this weekend in the cup as Arsenal lost their match against Sunderland by 2-1 while Chelsea and Tottenham could only manage frustrating draws against Birmingham City and Stevenage FC respectively.
Results: Liverpool v Brighton: 6-1 Chelsea v Birmingham: 1-1 Stevenage v Tottenham: 0-0 Crawley v Stoke City: 0-2 Sunderland v Arsenal: 2-0 Norwich v Leicester: 1-2 Milwall v Bolton: 0-2 Everton v Blackpool: 2-0