Southampton welcome champions Liverpool to St Mary’s on Monday night. It is a game which on paper promises much but based on recent performances, may threaten to deliver little in terms of goals.
Both Saints and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been distinctly off the boil over a congested festive fixture list. Fatigue has unsurprisingly raised its head and both managers have sought to rotate to ensure that the squads are not overloaded.
Liverpool fans have been frustrated with draws against West Brom and Newcastle, whilst Southampton have endured similarly underwhelming results against strugglers Fulham and mid table rivals West Ham.
Both teams have struggled with injuries, with star centre backs Van Dijk and Gomez still absent for the league leaders and standout defender Jannik Vestergaard missing for the Saints.
Ralph Hasenhuttl has been cleared to return to the touch line after his enforced absence due to a false positive test in household. Although he did not undertake a traditional press conference, he took the step of contacting journalists with team news by email.
There were rumours on social media in the build up to the match that Southampton shot stopper Alex McCarthy would be missing through injury or illness. The England keeper has been in excellent form this season having kept 7 clean sheets to date, the second highest in the league (source: Premier League website).
At the time of writing, Southampton are yet to confirm whether McCarthy will be fit for the encounter.
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Hasenhuttl has however confirmed that the match will come too soon for Jannik Vestergaard and Nathan Redmond (source: Tom Leach – Hampshire Live). A hamstring injury is likely to keep the former Norwich winger out for another couple of weeks, whilst Danish giant Vestergaard could be missing for a similar time period.
As for Liverpool, it has been confirmed that Juergen Klopp will have an unchanged squad to choose from for Monday’s clash (source: Liverpoolfc.com). This means that centre back Matip will not be participating in the game but Liverpool fans can expect to see Thiago and Milner involved after their respective absences in recent weeks.
Both appeared in the 0-0 game against Newcastle and it would be a boost for fans on the red side of Merseyside to see Spanish maestro Thiago Alcantara getting back to his best. After low scoring affairs over the festive period, he would undoubtedly offer some much needed control, stability and ingenuity in the middle of the park.
Southampton will have their work cut out to overcome a strong Liverpool attack but with Danny Ings set to face his former club, both sides are capable of scoring, even in spite of their relative droughts in recent weeks. That said, there is no doubting that Southampton would be the happier with a draw in a match Liverpool need to win.