Southampton vs. Liverpool: Virgil van Dijk returns to former club
On Sunday, Saints host Liverpool in the later Sunday Premier League kick-off chosen for TV at St.Mary’s after a 3-2 win away at West Bromwich Albion last time out.
Liverpool, who will have ex-Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk, are in decent form but have recently lost away at Swansea and at home to West Brom, which may give fans some hope of taking something from the clash, whereas Saints are currently enjoying a six-game unbeaten run that has seen them take six points in the Premier League and advance into the 5th round of the FA Cup.
As mentioned, Van Dijk will play his first game for Liverpool against the side that he left just over a month ago for a world-record £75 million. His reception will most likely be hostile as will the reception of other ex-Saints that may feature including Dejan Lovren, Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana meaning boos will be ringing out through the stadium!
In terms of form, Liverpool have had a mixed start to the new year with league wins away at Burnley and Huddersfield as well as becoming the first side to beat runaway league leaders Manchester City domestically this season.
However, they’ve also been dumped out of the FA Cup at the 4th round stage at home to bottom of the Premier League West Brom and have lost in the league away at 17th placed Swansea (they were bottom at the time).
The Reds’ most recent fixture was a 2-2 draw at home to Spurs last Sunday which saw the hosts take the lead twice despite it being argued that they didn’t deserve the point.
Southampton, they are on a decent run of six games unbeaten since opening the new year with a home defeat to Crystal Palace. With draws against Watford, Spurs and Brighton and a win over West Brom in the league as well as two FA Cup wins by a 1-0 scoreline against Fulham and Watford, Saints will have confidence going into this game.
Despite climbing the Premier League table after ending a 13-game win less streak in the league on Saturday, Southampton could still find themselves back down in the relegation zone before kick-off, highlighting the importance of trying to take points from every game we play until we’re safe.
It was satisfying to see attacking intent at the Hawthorns as we managed to score three goals away from home and should’ve scored more! However, defending wasn’t brilliant, especially from balls into the box and so the likes of Hoedt and Stephens will need to watch out for this as Liverpool could really damage us with the likes of Mane, Firmino and Salah.
Why Southampton will win
The Saints, as mentioned, go into the game unbeaten in over a month and have shown some serious signs of improvements as of late.
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The Saints have plenty of players enjoying good runs of form and hopefully we can see Guido Carrillo snatch his first goal for the side!
Southampton versus Liverpool games are like a derby nowadays so the fans and players should be well up for this one.
Why Liverpool will win
The Saints haven’t beaten a top-six side in the league now for over 18 months and the Reds ran ragged last time out and have a lot of quality in their ranks.
The pace that Liverpool have could cause a real issue for out back-line with Salah reeking havoc in the reverse fixture!
Team Predictions
Southampton:
Goalkeeper: Alex McCarthy
Defence: Ryan Bertrand, Wesley Hoedt, Jack Stephens, Cedric
Midfield: Oriol Romeu, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Mario Lemina, Dusan Tadic, James Ward-Prowse
Striker: Guido Carrillo
Liverpool:
Goalkeeper: Loris Karius
Defence: Andrew Robertson, Dejan Lovren, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfield: Emre Can, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gini Wijnaldum
Attackers: Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohammed Salah
Verdict:
In terms of the game, I think we’ll go for it as will Liverpool which should create a very exciting match!
Both sides need the points but I’d like to think that as we’re at home and are staring relegation in the face still that the players really go for a win. However, with the likes of Salah, Mane and Firmino in their ranks, I don’t think we will outscore them but they do have defensive issues at times so I’m going to go with a 2-2 draw!
Southampton 2-2 Liverpool