The Arne Slot Roadshow continues. Cody Gakpo’s brace helped the Liverpool manager to seven wins from his first eight away games in all competitions, helping the defending champions progress to the quarter-finals despite extensive changes.

Slot couldn’t have asked for a better start to life in English football and he rightly praised the performance of Czech goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros, who pulled off a spectacular save on his full debut as the game was level at 1-0.

This was the first real setback for Slot’s counterpart Fabian Hürzeler since arriving on these shores, as Brighton failed to progress past this stage of the competition for the first time in almost 50 years.

To their credit, they continued to fight, scoring a goal from Simon Adingra and another from Tariq Lamptey after Luis Díaz seemed to have sorted things out, but the hosts were unable to find a valuable equaliser.

Slot expressed concern this week about Liverpool’s lack of striker options after Diogo Jota was ruled out until after the next international break and Federico Chiesa was also sidelined. But with Gakpo in this form, Slot may not have to worry as the Dutch striker and several other fringe players made a strong case to start when Brighton visit Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday.

“I really liked what I saw from players who haven’t played much this season,” Slot said. “They were able to play a similar style and bring quality to the game. That makes it even more difficult for me to choose the lineups for the coming weeks.”

Dominic Szoboszlai was tasked with taking charge here as Slot made eight changes from Sunday’s draw with Arsenal and Mohamed Salah came on late as Brighton threatened to claw their way back into the game. Third-choice goalkeeper Jaros – wearing the number 56 shirt – rose to the occasion, but it was a sign of Liverpool’s persistence that Slot Ibrahima Konaté had to sign to get through the final five minutes of stoppage time.

“We weren’t reckless enough,” said Hürzeler. “Liverpool scored at the right moment – ​​they had the timing on their side and we couldn’t respond.”

The Brighton manager previously said there was no reason why his side should not target this competition as they have not progressed beyond this stage since 1979, when they lost in the round of 16 to eventual winners Nottingham Forest. But having also made eight changes, the hosts appeared intent on giving their opponents a boost in the early stages, with Szoboszlai almost making Jason Steele pay for trying to play out from the back. Lamptey was denied early by a good save from Jaros, while Brighton’s second team appeared eager to prove a point. Julio Enciso’s curler from 30 yards out left Jaros standing in his tracks as it bounced just over the crossbar.

Liverpool still looked dangerous on the counter-attack and Steele parried Szoboszlai’s shot with his legs after he combined with Andy Robertson before Díaz headed the rebound wide. A clever move downfield ended with Robertson forcing Steele into another save at his near post. But given the number of changes on both sides, it was perhaps no surprise that they seemed so disjointed.

Ferdi Kadioglu did not return in the second half due to a foot problem, but Liverpool made a breakthrough down Brighton’s right flank less than a minute after the restart. Tyler Morton grabbed a loose ball from a goal kick and Gakpo did the rest, cutting inside from the wing and firing an unstoppable shot into the top corner. Brighton would have equalized straight away had Jaros not made an excellent reaction to somehow direct Adingra’s header onto the post from Lamptey’s cross. Evan Ferguson then fired over from close range before Brajan Gruda’s shot from distance was inches away.

Liverpool were on the edge but had a good chance to secure the win when Gakpo opted to shoot instead of Szoboszlai, allowing Steele to make a save. Such selflessness was no longer felt a minute later after the Dutchman beat the unfortunate Lamptey to the ball with a low shot past the Brighton goalkeeper.

Brighton were given a lifeline when Jarell Quansah misplaced a pass and Adingra fired home from close range after Jaros had parried the initial shot. Díaz appeared to have dashed any hopes of a comeback when he fired home after a poor free throw from Joël Veltman, but Lamptey’s deflected shot made for a nervy finale that Slot will be relieved to have survived.