Liverpool's Egyptian striker #11 Mohamed Salah celebrates scoring the team's third goal from the ... \[+\] penalty spot during the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Southampton at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on March 8, 2025. (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)
AFP via Getty Images
It was a win at home against the Premier League’s worst team. One that would normally be routine, expected, and leave Liverpool FC unruffled, but Saturday’s meeting with Southampton was more difficult than billed and more important than it might seem.
It was a much bigger win for Liverpool than the gap between the two teams would suggest. At this stage of the season when a team is challenging for the things Liverpool is, all wins are important, regardless of the opponent, but with a long break between now and the club’s next Premier League game, these three points in particular were a real boost to both morale and the position at the top of the table.
Liverpool’s next game is not until April 2 when it faces Everton at home in a Merseyside Derby. Between now and then for Liverpool there is a Champions League last 16 second-leg against Paris Saint-Germain, a League Cup final against Newcastle United at Wembley, and an international break.
At this stage, each point, or preferably groups of three from Liverpool’s point of view, is a step closer to securing the title with as minimal fuss and a few nerves as possible. From Manchester City to Southampton, from Arsenal to Everton, which teams those points come against doesn’t matter as the same thing is on the line in every game.
Liverpool has won 19 league titles in its history, but its only triumph in the Premier League era came behind closed doors due to Covid-19 restrictions. Even though this current title challenge doesn’t quite contain the historical weight of the 2019/20 success under Jürgen Klopp, winning it would have some historical significance, not least because it would tie them with rival Manchester United for the most English league titles.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 08: Darwin Nunez of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's first goal ... \[+\] with teammate Andrew Robertson during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Southampton FC at Anfield on March 08, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Sometimes a club as big as Liverpool can be weighed down by its history in difficult moments, but Klopp’s rebuilding job gave the club a momentum and belief, and more importantly a level of quality, that had been missing.
Any big club going through an extended period without winning a title suffers due to the expectation that comes with the territory, but Liverpool’s run of trophies won in multiple competitions under Klopp took them past that stage.
Now the task is to win a title the fans can celebrate with the team, and Saturday’s win was a huge step towards that.
Southampton didn’t make it easy. In the first half, the team from the south coast didn’t look like one that is sitting bottom of the league with just two wins to its name.
A good first half performance from the visitors to Anfield eventually produced a goal to show for it and Liverpool had to come back from a goal down.
Was Southampton good or did Liverpool make them look so? It was a bit of both.
The league leader looked sluggish. It was one of the first sunny days of spring, so maybe there was too much of a relaxed, happy atmosphere around the team and the stadium which might have initially led to some complacency in a game that was expected to be won with ease.
Three changes made by Liverpool manager Arne Slot at halftime provided a wakeup call. Maybe it was the mere fact three changes were made that altered the dynamic of this game, regardless of which players entered the fray.
As it was, Andy Robertson offered much-needed dynamism down the left, Alexis Mac Allister brought the guile and mentality of a World Cup winner, and Harvey Elliott is currently Liverpool’s lucky charm.
Darwin Núñez netted the equalizer before Luis Diaz won a penalty from which Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool the lead. The Egyptian, currently the best player in the world, scored a second from the spot to make sure of the win.
Liverpool now goes into its game against PSG at Anfield on Tuesday having not been at its best in the first leg in Paris but still escaping with a 1-0 win thanks to Elliott.
Slot knows his team needs to step things up from that game, and especially from the Southampton game if it is to retain that advantage and progress to the quarterfinals.
“I know these players can come up with completely different energy levels than they came up with today in the first half,” said the Liverpool boss in his post-Southampton press conference. “I think that was the first time this season I saw this tempo.
“When I look at the game against PSG, we need to go one step up in terms of intensity, but if I compare it with the game today, we have to go three, four, five, six or seven steps up if we want to have any chance of reaching the next round.”
Liverpool’s second half comeback against Southampton left the team jubilant but not unruffled given the first-half problems.
Maybe it was the test Liverpool needed, and will prove more useful in the long run than a routine win would have.
The three points are a welcome cushion, and give the team and fans space to focus on two big games in the Champions League and League Cup, safe in the knowledge there will be a cushion of at least ten points at the top of the table ahead of their next involvement in a round of Premier League games in April.