Liverpool v Southampton: Match Preview & Predicted XI | OneFootball

By Heidi O’Hare

This weekend top of the Premier League Table is set to face the bottom of the Premier League table as Liverpool host Southampton at Anfield on Saturday.

With 58 points separating the sides in The Saints’ first year back in the Premier League post relegation and Liverpool flying at the top of the Premier League, still being involved in the Champions League knockouts and having the Carabao Cup approaching it appears all eyes are on Red’s league run, meanwhile, the South Coast club have only managed to get a result in 1 of their last 8 games

The Kopites and The Saints have met each other a total of 121 times with Liverpool taking the win 64 times, Southampton taking the victory 31 times and there also being 26 ties. Given new manager Ivan Jurić’s side’s lack of form so far this season, now might be a good time for Slot’s side to maintain their 13-point lead at the top of the Premier League, but now could also be a good time for the bottom of the table side to regain form and show that they aren’t going down without at least somewhat of a fight.

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Liverpool and Southampton have shared lots of players down the years so this is a fixture with plenty in the way of familiar faces and intrigue, especially with current Reds’ captain Virgil van Dijk still at the heart of the defence.

Southampton’s squad has also been added to in the winter transfer market by promising young talents like left-back Wellington and attacking midfielder Alber Grobaek on loan from Ligue 1 Club Rennes who may be helping solidify the Saints team and help them find their rhythm, albeit probably too late to muster anything like a survival bid.

Their current absentees, Ryan Fraser, Ross Stewart, Juan Larios and James Bree are all set to miss the fixture due to injury but others like former Red player Adam Lallana, Jan Bednarek, Lesley Ugochukwu, Kyle Walker-Peters are expected to make an injury comeback just in time for the clash.

Currently, Liverpool’s availability is good at the moment with only Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley ruled out due to muscular injuries the Northern Irishman is out for a few weeks and Gomez hopefully going to be fit just before the end of the season, whilst Cody Gakpo missed the midweek encounter at the Parc des Princes.

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Liverpool’s mid-week game to PSG away in the Champions League led to a 1-0 win for the Reds with an 87th-minute winner from Harvey Elliot only 47 seconds after he’d come off the bench against the run of play from fellow substitute Darwin Nunez. The Hero for Slot’s outfit came in the form of goalkeeper Alisson who had kept Liverpool in the game throughout the 90 minutes with a series of impressive saves. Liverpool’s goal came from their first shot on target and second attempt from the game as substitute Harvey Elliott found the bottom corner, by comparison to the Paris side’s 28 attempts on goal. “To go away with a win from here was probably a bit more than we deserved,” acknowledged Slot.

The Saints last game resulted in a 4-0 loss to Chelsea away, Saints boss Juric stated he thought “We did really well in the first 25-30 minutes. We had two big chances with Paul [Onuachu] and we were very competitive with them.” He also did not show any concern about the effort of the team when he stated “After the first half it was almost finished because 3-0 against Chelsea is a lot, but I think the guys gave everything they have in this moment and that’s it.”

Predicted XI

Alisson (GK), Alexander Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsmikas, Mac Allister, Jones, Szoboszlai, Salah, Diaz, Nunez