Southampton vs Liverpool Preview: Can Saints perform against the Reds?

Southampton host Liverpool at St Mary’s on Monday evening and will be looking to build some momentum once again ahead of a busy January.

Three points from their last four league fixtures against Arsenal, Manchester City, Fulham and West Ham has put the brakes on what was looking to be great 2020/21 season for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side.

They are still remaining defensively strong though and, despite struggling to create chances in their recent run of games, still sit within three points of the top four.

Liverpool have only lost one league game so far this campaign and look set for another strong charge towards the Premier League title, but consecutive draws against West Brom and Newcastle may give Saints some hope of a positive result against Jurgen Klopp’s men.

The Reds took six points away from meetings with Saints last season after a 2-1 victory at St Mary’s and then a comprehensive 4-0 win at Anfield.

Team News

Saints will be without Jannik Vestergaard and Nathan Redmond once again as they recover from knee and hip injuries respectively.

Rumours on social media have suggested Alex McCarthy could be unavailable for Monday but this is yet to be confirmed by an official source.

Liverpool look set to have the same squad available to them as they had for their goalless draw at Newcastle on Wednesday.

Virgil van Dijk, Naby Keita and Joe Gomez remain long-term absentees whilst Joel Matip, Diogo Jota and Konstantinos Tsimikas are all set to return in late January or early February.

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• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
• It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
• Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

Why Saints could win

Saints have had an extra day to work ahead of this game and it is vital that they work on their attacking shape and movement to return to previous levels of creation.

Liverpool’s inability to beat West Brom and Newcastle has shown that they are struggling to break down teams that look to remain tight defensively. Saints look to impose their style on every game they play but seven clean sheets in the league so far shows that they have been consistently sound at the back.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men can take heart from the fact that they went toe-to-toe with Manchester City recently and they will believe that they have the potential to do the same against Liverpool.

Why Liverpool could win

Saints have really struggled against the three-pronged attack of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in the past and are likely to be up against them tomorrow too.

Teams have also loaded the midfield against Saints recently and successfully cut off many of their attacking avenues – Jurgen Klopp also uses a three-man midfield and has plenty of options as he chooses his line-up for tomorrow evening.

Additional motivation comes from a battle at the top of the table for the Reds and they will be keen to get more points on the board to inch back ahead of Manchester United.

Predicted line-ups

Saints

Alex McCarthy, Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens, Ryan Bertrand, Oriol Romeu, James Ward-Prowse, Stuart Armstrong, Moussa Djenepo, Che Adams, Danny Ings

Liverpool

Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Nathaniel Phillips, Andy Robertson, Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara, Gini Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino

Predicted score

Saints 1-1 Liverpool