Liverpool continued their winning run and moved up to fourth place after beating Brighton at Anfield, with Alexander Isak scoring following a high-energy contribution from Bradley Barcola.

The result was a fourth consecutive victory for Iraola since Liverpool's defeat by Manchester City at Anfield two weeks earlier. Supporters who attended after Storm Boelo saw a Liverpool side that pressed aggressively from the opening stages and defended effectively against a Brighton team that had scored 15 league goals across its previous four matches.

Brighton had little to show for their possession. Yasin Ayari fired over early on, but Fabian Hurzeler's side did not create another major opportunity.

Ronald Araujo again stood out in Liverpool's defence as the home side recorded their fourth clean sheet in eight league matches this season. Liverpool had 35.6% possession, their second-lowest figure in a Premier League home victory since records began in the 2003-04 season.

Iraola's Bournemouth team had often been comfortable without the ball, and Liverpool's approach against Brighton suggested they can also benefit when visiting sides have more possession at Anfield. With quality in attack, Liverpool can exploit the space available when opponents are not sitting in a low defensive block.

Florian Wirtz, Barcola and Cody Gakpo all posed problems for Brighton. Wirtz helped Liverpool take the lead, although his effort was deflected by Pascal Gross and he was not credited with the goal.

The German's influence in a Liverpool shirt has increasingly been evident, even if he still needs to improve his personal output in goals and assists. Liverpool will also be monitoring his fitness after he was substituted during the second half.

"Unfortunately, he had to leave the pitch with a small twist of the ankle," Iraola said. "It doesn't look very big but we are playing every three days so we need to see where he is."

Barcola played a decisive part in the second goal, winning possession through Liverpool's high press before Isak finished instinctively. Barcola then copied Isak's celebration, as he had done in west London the previous weekend.

Isak and Barcola cost Liverpool a combined £248m. Their partnership helped secure another win, and Liverpool will hope it continues to deliver as their run of matches every three days continues.