Southampton: Pellegrino has no fresh injury concerns for Liverpool game

Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino has confirmed that his Saints side has no fresh doubts for this weekend’s match against Liverpool.

Charlie Austin may still be on the sidelines following his injury over Christmas, but besides the Englishman the Saints can boast a clean bill of health going into this Sunday’s game with Liverpool.

The Argentine could do with all the help he could get, as his team go into the game with the Reds just two points above the relegation places.

The win over West Brom last Saturday will have lifted a lot of weight off both Pellegrino and the supporters’ shoulders, but Southampton are still very much in a relegation scrap with some tough games to come.

Today in his pre-match press conference, the under-fire 46-year-old revealed that his squad is nearly at full strength will no new worries.

"“We have nothing to report in terms of injuries which is good but we will wait until tomorrow.“There is just Charlie at the moment who is outside of the squad but the rest of the team are ready.” – Pellegrino"

Southampton are in a good run of form having not lost now in over a month, but the fans will remember that Liverpool ran ragged in the reverse fixture and the 3-0 scoreline was flattering to the Saints.

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The south coast outfit haven’t beaten one of the ‘big six’ in the league since Ronald Koeman was in charge way back in April 2016 – a worrying statistic going into Sunday’s game.

But with several of the side’s players enjoying some of their best-ever form – most notably James Ward-Prowse and Jack Stephens – the Saints could have their best chance of beating Liverpool since their meeting in the League Cup last year.

Despite the addition of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton, Liverpool look no better defensively and the Saints need to look to frustrate their back-line rather than sit back and counter.

Pellegrino’s tactics and substitutions in big games have drawn a lot of criticism for negative set-ups and the constant use of long ball – this is partly why the Saints are yet to pick up anything more than a draw against those competing for Champions League places.

The Argentine will be tempted to have his side sit deep but with a plethora of attacking players at his disposal and a near-clean bill of health, he has to set his side up to go for it.