As Liverpool continue pushing to reclaim the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first season in charge, they have the opportunity to temporarily go 16 points clear of Arsenal when they face struggling Southampton at Anfield on Saturday afternoon [15:00 GMT].
On the back of winning late in France in Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League clash with PSG in the first leg of the Round of 16, spirits will be high on Merseyside as they look to push for success this season with three trophies still available for The Reds.
The positivity surrounding Liverpool could not contrast further with Southampton, who have endured a tough time during their immediate return to the top flight. Ivan Jurić has been unable to change The Saints‘ fortunes on the south coast, and with an all but certain return to the Sky Bet Championship on the cards, questions are being asked over whether or not the Croatian will be the right man to bring Southampton back to the Premier League next season.
The Stats
Liverpool and Southampton have already faced eachother twice this season, with the Reds just edging past the Saints on both occasions with a 2-1 win in the Carabao Cup in December at St. Mary’s and coming from behind to win 3-2 in the Premier League in November on the south coast.
Southampton last won at Anfield on a memorable evening in the Carabao Cup when Shane Long scored late to send them to the final of the competition in January 2017. They have one win as the away side against Liverpool in the Premier League since 2013, winning 1-0 with Dejan Lovren as the goalscorer that day all the way back when Mauricio Pochettino was in charge.
Liverpool’s only defeat this season did come at home, when Callum Hudson-Odoi scored as Nottingham Forest defeated them in September but since then they have only failed to claim all three points at Anfield on two seperate occasions – drawing 2-2 with Fulham and Manchester United. The home side will be looking to make it three wins in a row in the Premier League following their victories against Manchester City and Newcastle United.
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The struggles of Southampton this season can be best summarised by how they are level on points with the infamous Derby County side that finished with a record lowest amount of points in the 2007/08 season. They were also on nine points at this stage and finished with 11. Southampton have only won two games this season – against Everton in November and away at Ipswich Town last month – and are also on the back of losing their last three Premier League games.
Mohamed Salah has already reached his second highest scoring season for Liverpool in the Premier League with an incredible 25 goals so far. He needs seven more to match his debut season for The Reds, when he scored 32 in the 2017/18 campaign. Over the course of his time in the Premier League for Liverpool, Salah has played against Southampton on 12 different occasions and scored nine times, including a brace against them in November.
Team News
Liverpool are likely to be without forward Cody Gakpo on Saturday afternoon. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Arne Slot revealed that Gakpo had not trained this week but he may be able to train today so his absence will not be long-term. Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley will continue to be unavailable.
Slot also hinted that with the timeframe of the fixture against PSG with only two days in between the two games, he may also be forced to make a few changes with that in mind.
This could see the likes of Kostas Tsmikas, Curtis Jones and Darwin Núñez handed starts after not featuring from the start against PSG.
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Adam Lallana has been deemed fit enough to face his former team, meanwhile Jurić also revealed that Jan Bednarek and Kyle Walker-Peters will be available for the away side. Lesley Ugochukwu is back available after being ineligible to face his parent club in the defeat against Chelsea, whilst James Bree is ruled out.
TV Guide
Saturday’s encounter between Liverpool and Southampton will not be available to be watched in the UK by those not at Anfield due to the 3pm blackout for fixtures in English football kicking off at this time.
UK audiences can listen to the game on BBC Radio 5 Live.
The fixture is able to be watched overseas, such as in the USA where fans can watch the fixture on Peacock [10:00 ET].
FromTheSpot Prediction
With the disparity in fortunes between the two clubs in mind, it would be a huge surprise to see Southampton leave Anfield with any of the points available. We believe that Liverpool will be too strong for The Saints and will come away with a 3-0 victory.
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Although one eye may potentially be on Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League encounter with PSG, the home side will ensure that they do their part to tighten their grip on the Premier League, and it’s hard to envisage anything other than a tough afternoon for Southampton fans.
After Saturday’s encounter at Anfield, the number of games left this season for Liverpool to play will be down to single digits. It would be believed that at this stage and maintaining a gap between themselves and Arsenal in second place, it’s nearly safe for Liverpool fans to start picturing Virgil van Dijk lifting the trophy in May.