Arne Slot believes there is more to come from Liverpool now their young additions have settled into the team, describing Saturday’s win over Brighton as one of their best performances of the season.

Goals from Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah booked Liverpool’s passage into round five of the FA Cup as they cruised to a 3-0 home win over Fabian Hurzeler’s out-of-form Seagulls.

This is just the fourth time Liverpool have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup in the last 11 seasons, also doing so in 2019-20 (lost in fifth round), 2021-22 (winners) and 2023-24 (quarter-finalists) during this period.

They have, though, won 10 of their last 11 FA Cup games at Anfield (one draw) dating back to a 3-2 defeat to West Brom in the fourth round in 2017-18.

Slot’s second campaign on Merseyside has largely been a disappointment, as they are locked in a battle for Champions League qualification despite a huge transfer outlay of almost £450m last summer.

But having won four of their last five matches in all competitions, with the exception being a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City, Slot feels Liverpool are on an upward trajectory.

“It’s satisfying because we scored three and that’s not really been coming for us. To score three with the chances we had has not happened that many times this season,” Slot told BBC Sport.

“It started out with us bringing the ball out from the back. It was two teams wanting to bring the ball out from the back, which you don’t see that much any more in the Premier League.

“The second goal was a great team goal, a great switch and Mohamed Salah laying it off… and then the finish was probably the nicest part of the attack.

“In the end, we got some players back. It is fair to say we have developed a lot from two, three or four months ago. We are much more able to achieve the intensity levels that are needed in the Premier League and Champions League after two days of rest.

“Most of these players are young, so there is a lot more to come from them. That is why we did what we did in the summer.

“Giving them time to adjust also cost us too many points – that is clear – but the team is in a good place at the moment.”

That winning feeling pic.twitter.com/wAd7ThkCC3

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 14, 2026

Brighton actually outshot Liverpool by 17 to 13, though their efforts only added up to 1.22 expected goals (xG) and the Reds, boosted by Salah’s goal coming from the penalty spot, finished with 1.82 xG.

Hurzeler felt his team performed admirably but were on the wrong side of the fine margins, telling TNT Sports: “I’m very disappointed because I think we started the game well, we were good on the ball and had big chances in the first half.

“Some good quality from Liverpool decided the game. We always tried to come back, but we lost a little bit of belief. The fans were great; they deserved more. We had enough chances to score a goal.

“It was the moments that decided the game; they scored and we didn’t. You can’t defend all the areas from Liverpool. They had one or two and the penalty decided the game.”