Juergen Klopp said his Liverpool side were mentally not fresh after a damaging 0-1 home defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday left them way adrift in the Premier League title race. Steven Alzate scored the all-important goal in the 56th minute.

Liverpool appeared to have rediscovered their spark with consecutive away wins last week over Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United but were easily stifled by an impressive Brighton side.

Klopp’s champions failed to score for the third successive home league game and they managed only one effort on target as they fell seven points behind leaders Manchester City who also have a game in hand.

“We played against really good opposition, that’s clear,” Klopp said. “We looked mentally not fresh. They deserved to win. We wanted to play better and more convincing. We lost too many balls in promising situations. I know the boys can play pass A to B but today (Wednesday) B did not seem reachable.

“We had a really tough week. We were not fresh and that’s when you have to find a way... The only explanation now is that we are a fatigued team, mentally more or less,” Klopp said.