Mohamed Salah scored and provided an assist as Liverpool brushed aside Brighton at Anfield to reach the FA Cup fifth round.

The hosts took a first-half lead through Curtis Jones before Salah set up Dominik Szoboszlai after the break, with the midfielder thumping home to cap a sweeping move.

Ten minutes later Salah was brought down in the box and the Egypt winger blasted his penalty past Jason Steele to put the tie to bed.

Brighton threatened in phases but paid the price for not taking their chances and have now only won two of their past 15 games.

Liverpool have bounced back from losing to Manchester City last Sunday with an impressive win at Sunderland in midweek and another positive display against the Seagulls. Despite their struggles throughout the campaign, there is still plenty of life in their season.

Both Reds boss Arne Slot and his Brighton counterpart Fabian Hurzeler resisted the urge to make wholesale changes from their midweek Premier League games and it was the visitors who made the stronger start.

But Liverpool grew into the match and in the 42nd minute, Jones - who started the game at right-back and was making his first start since 17 January - got on the end of Milos Kerkez's cross and guided a finish past Steele.

Brighton missed two good opportunities to level, with Alisson saving from Diego Gomez and Lewis Dunk either side of half-time.

In the 56th minute, Szoboszlai doubled Liverpool's lead with his 10th goal of the campaign after a flowing team move.

Virgil van Dijk found Cody Gakpo, who played a cross-field ball to Salah - and he delivered a superb touch to tee up the Hungarian, who finished emphatically.

Hurzeler made a triple substitution after going 2-0 down, but it was to no avail as Salah was bundled over in the box by Pascal Gross after a dazzling run.

The 33-year-old rifled his penalty into the top corner for his seventh goal of the season and arguably his best performance since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations last month.

"It is very nice to have him on the scoresheet again," said Slot. "But what I like the most is he is scoring goals [which you] almost expect - but he also helps the team a lot defensively and that is something very positive."

There was still time for Rio Ngumoha to come off the bench and put the ball in the back of the net with a delightful curling finish, but it was ruled out for offside despite replays suggesting otherwise.

And with no VAR in operation until the fifth round of the FA Cup, the 17-year-old was desperately unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.

Liverpool analysis: Reds recover their swagger

At this stage of the FA Cup last year Slot named a second-string side for the tie at Plymouth and Liverpool were dumped out by the Championship strugglers.

The Dutchman's selection here spoke volumes in terms of what this competition means for Liverpool this season.

Winning the Champions League will be a tough ask - so the FA Cup is a realistic chance for silverware.

And his selection was justified as Liverpool played with a swagger that has perhaps been missing for most of their season. There was a tempo to their football and so much to admire for the first two goals, with Szoboszlai's in particular coming at the end of a fine team move.

Kerkez, who assisted Jones, is improving week by week, while Salah described Szoboszlai as "one of the best players in the world right now" to TNT Sports.

Salah himself also had a good night - he put in a shift off the ball, got back on the scoresheet and went off to another standing ovation from the Anfield faithful.

Liverpool have now kept two clean sheets in a row too so, all in all, this was an evening where plenty of boxes were ticked. It would be a stretch to say they are back - but there are certainly encouraging signs.

Brighton analysis: Struggling Seagulls lacking confidence

Hurzeler's side have had a torrid time in the past few months, with just one victory in 13 league games.

But they did win at Old Trafford in the FA Cup and initially asked questions of Liverpool early on as they kept the ball and quietened Anfield.

But once the Reds found their rhythm, the lack of confidence in this Brighton side was ruthlessly exposed.

Had they taken their chances and equalised shortly after Jones opened the scoring, this game could have had a different outlook - but Liverpool were clinical while Brighton were not.

After their midweek defeat at Aston Villa, Brighton trained at St George's Park during the week rather than head back to the south coast.

But right now, nothing seems to be working for the Seagulls and these are certainly worrying times for Hurzeler.

"It is very important to see the reality of where we are but also the performances - the last two against tough opponents, we were more than competitive," he said.

"The game could go in another direction. We did a lot of things right but we have to keep working hard. We are not in a good moment. You only come out if you work hard."

His side travel to Brentford on Saturday and the pressure will only grow if they cannot get a result there. (BBC)

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