Liverpool 3-0 Southampton: Saints thrashed at Anfield by impressive Reds

Liverpool scored all three of their goals in the first-half as they strolled to a sixth-straight league win to start the season.

An own goal from Wesley Hoedt, a header from Joel Matip and tap-in from Mohamed Salah were enough to see the Reds on to a comfortable victory, as Southampton offered precious little at the other end in a totally one-sided performance.

Without Danny Ings, the Saints switched to a one-man front-line of Shane Long and as a result weren’t able to break through a Liverpool defence that handed a first league start to towering centre-half Matip.

Southampton were the authors of their own downfall however when Hoedt misplaced Xherdan Shaqiri’s deflected shot into his own net, with Liverpool going on to totally dominate from that point onward.

Goal difference means the Saints have dropped to 14th beneath their last opponents Brighton who are yet to play this weekend. If West Ham can produce an upset against Chelsea, they could also leapfrog Hughes’ team.

Liverpool had some breathing room just 13 minutes after Hoedt’s own goal, as the Reds swung in a wicked corner which met the head of Joel Matip – the Cameroonian was poorly marked by Jannik Vestergaard and sent the resulting header into the far top corner past a grasping McCarthy.

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And on the verge of half-time the home side buried the game beyond any reasonable doubt, as Shaqiri fired a free-kick onto McCarthy’s crossbar with Mohamed Salah running in to tap to ball into an empty net. Despite initial claims from the Swiss playmaker, his dead ball didn’t cross the line and it was definitely Salah’s goal.

After half-time the Saints were given more of the ball but did little going forward with it – Redmond remained lively and as a substitute Armstrong had an effect, but ultimately Southampton failed to record a shot on target until the 90th minute.

Liverpool meanwhile had plenty of chances to increase their lead – sub James Milner had two very good shots in quick succession before Salah thought he had his second of the afternoon, only to be flagged for offside.

Southampton looked fragile and nervous at the back with Roberto Firmino having a field day pinching the ball from under the defender’s noses. Up front, the lack of penetration without Danny Ings was rather concerning.

Next Saturday the Saints face promoted side Wolves in what will prove a tricky encounter at Molineux.