Liverpool produced a second-half comeback to down Brighton.

The visitors took a surprise lead early in the first half from Ferdi Kadioglou’s rifled shot inside the area which beat Caoimhin Kelleher in front of The Kop.

But Arne Slot’s side pulled level after the interval when Cody Gakpo’s left-sided cross eluded everyone in the box to find its way past Bart Verbruggen.

They took a deserved upper hand just three minutes later through Mohamed Salah’s superb curling strike after he received substitute Curtis Jones’ pass.

A return to winning ways sees the Reds reascend to the Premier League’s top spot after Manchester City’s defeat to Bournemouth elsewhere on Saturday.

Here were the key talking points from Anfield:

Slot delivers his greatest feat yet

At half time, Arne Slot was facing the biggest task of his Liverpool reign.

The hosts headed into the interval not only trailing to Brighton but also fortunate that they had not shipped more than Ferdi Kadioglou’s opener.

Nothing appeared to be going right for the Reds at either end of the pitch, with their every mistake preyed upon by Fabian Hurzeler’s relentless Seagulls.

Forget the loss to Nottingham Forest – this was comfortably the worst opening 45 minutes of Slot’s time in the Anfield hot seat as a smattering boos attested.

Something drastic was required at the break and the Dutchman delivered just that with the next 10 minutes yielding four big chances before restoring parity.

But the introductions of Luis Diaz and Curtis Jones, replacing an off-key Alexis Mac Allister and ineffectual Dominik Szoboszlai, lit the blue-touch paper.

The pair added a different dimension as Slot changed shape into a diamond midfield which was able to wrest patterns of play from their visitors’ grasp.

On an afternoon when their Premier League title rivals slipped up, Liverpool’s head coach conjured up his greatest feat to date by avoiding following suit.

Gomez finally reaps his reward

Slot’s double substitution was clearly the catalyst for Liverpool’s comeback but an equally integral change already took place early in the second half.

Ibrahima Konate’s day had been curtailed by an arm injury after colliding with Virgil van Dijk at a corner which saw his shirt turned into a makeshift sling.

In the France international’s place, Joe Gomez was handed a fifth outing from the bench this season after starting agaisnt the same opposition in midweek.

His impact was almost instantaneous by meeting a Kostas Tsimikas corner with a header which Bart Verbruggen was able to collect largely untroubled.

Yet Gomez’s performance alongside Van Dijk coincided with a more assured rearguard in contrast to one that regularly found itself hotfooted in the first half.

It would be fair to say that the longest-serving current player in the Anfield dressing room has not faced his challenges over the previous nine years.

Indeed, his time looked to be over last summer as a growing list of Premier League suitors momentarily tempted the hierarchy to consider selling him.

Gomez, however, is proof of persistence overcoming resistance and an extended run in the side in Konate’s likely absence promises to be his reward.

Is Salah being taken for granted?

Away from Anfield, Mohamed Salah has become a forgotten man somewhat.

The Egyptian continues to find no shortage of admirers on The Kop but the game’s populus is clearly now taking his unrelenting exploits for granted.

At a time when Monday’s Ballon d’Or sparked a debate on fitting recipients, Salah’s absence from the 30-man shortlist remains a real head scratcher.

So, too, is his omission from the African Footballer of the Year running after further cementing his legacy as one of the Premier League’s leading scorers.

His sumptuous strike into The Kop’s net which sealed victory moved him above Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler as the eighth all-time goal scorer.

Just as impressively, it also marked Salah’s 55th goal involvement in a red shirt since the start of last season; a remarkable haul in its own right.

Even at 32, the case for the forward’s contract to be extended beyond this summer’s expiry is becoming more and more compelling by the week.

Who knows, it might force those outside L4 to sit up and take note again.