Liverpool Predicted Lineup VS Southampton | Premier League
Arne Slot and Liverpool are set to travel south to face off against 20th-place Southampton in their next clash in week twelve of their Premier League campaign. The Reds are currently five points clear of 2nd-placed Manchester City who welcome a banged-up Tottenham Hotspur to the Etihad. Slot will look to ensure his five-point gap is maintained at worst, and at best, expanded on before welcoming Manchester City to Anfield next weekend in the Premier League.
Liverpool enters this fixture on the back of a thirteen-game unbeaten run, with only one draw in that period of time also. Historically, the Red have been the better side in this fixture by a wide margin, having just lost six of the last twenty-six meetings with Southampton across all competitions, winning sixteen and drawing the remaining four.
The stark difference between the teams does not end there, with this season so far emphasizing that even more. Liverpool boasts both the defensive record and the best Goal-Difference record in the Premier League. Southampton, on the other hand, are the opposite side of the coin. Scoring only one more than Liverpool has conceded all season, and conceding an eye-watering twenty-one goals so far this season.
Team News
Southampton
Southampton are set to be without the following players for this Premier League clash:
Aaron Ramsdale(Broken Finger), Gavin Bazunu(Achilles Tendon), Jan Bednarek(Muscle Injury), Ross Stewart(Calf Injury), William Smallbone(Hamstring Injury)
Liverpool
Liverpool are set to be without the following players for this Premier League clash:
Alisson Becker(Hamstring Injury), Diogo Jota(Rib Injury), Federico Chiesa(Muscle Injury), Trent Alexander-Arnold(Knock)
Harvey Elliott has returned to training with the first team and may feature in Sunday's match, and despite reports earlier in the week of Virgil van Dijk possibly missing due to injury, Arne Slot confirmed in his press conference earlier that all was well.
Predicted Teams
Southampton - (4-5-1)
McCarthy, Suguwara, Hardwood-Bellis, Stephens, Walker-Peters, Armstrong, Lallana, Downes, Fernandes, Manning, Archer
Liverpool - (4-2-3-1)
GK: Caoimhin Kelleher - While Alisson returned to training this week, Arne Slot confirmed he is not ready to go yet. Only training with the goalkeeping coaches and not the first team. Slot stressed the need for Alisson to be fully fit before returning to the starting lineup. Kelleher has been fantastic since he took over the position from Alisson following the Brazilian's hamstring injury during the 1-0 victory to Crystal Palace. Another clean sheet should be on the cards today for the Irishman.
RB: Conor Bradley - With Trent Alexander-Arnold coming off early in the clash with Aston Villa, thankfully avoiding serious damage, the Scouser missed all international duty and is set to possibly miss both this fixture with Southampton and the midweek game where Real Madrid travel to Anfield for the UEFA Champions League. Bradley has been amazing in his cameos so far this season, and coming off great form in his international duty, we expect this to continue into the weekend.
CB: Ibrahima Konate - Named the French captain over the international break in the absence of Kylian Mbappe, Konate has gone from strength to strength this season with world-class performances almost becoming second nature. The French defender is on course for the best season of his career if he keeps his form up, and has formed the best defensive pairing this season with Virgil van Dijk as his co-gunner at the back.
CB: Virgil van Dijk - Having left international duty early, Virgil felt some discomfort which was confirmed by the Dutch national coach Ronald Koeman. But, thankfully, Slot quickly quashed these rumors in his Friday press conference stating Virg 'was fine', and the whole of the Liverpool fanbase collectively sighed with relief. Van Dijk is quietly having the best season since his Ballon D'or charge in 2019, which is being massively underappreciated by the media. Possibly due to the fact this is now the expected level for him? Nevertheless, he is the leader of the best defense in Europe's top leagues and has led his team to the top of both the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League tables.
LB: Kostas Tsimikas - This could have been a toss-up between Andrew Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas, realistically, as both have recently found form. But given the schedule ahead it's just a preference of skillset that has Kostas taking the starting position in this matchup, and possibly midweek too against Real Madrid. The Greek Scouser has stepped up this season when called upon and improved immensely in his deliveries to the box from set-pieces. Expect that to be a big factor in this game also.
CDM: Ryan Gravenberch - Ryan only played a small amount of minutes during the international break, especially in the second game earlier this week. This will help considering the games across the next seven days. This will possibly be the biggest test so far for Gravenberch with the Real Madrid midfield and Manchester City midfield in his near future, so getting back to his usual amazing form will be paramount in today's game. I do not foresee any issues for him today, but it will be good to get additional sharpness into his game before that big double header next week.
CDM: Curtis Jones - With Alexis Mac Allister traveling back from South America, Curtis gets the nod. Not without merit either as he grabbed his first international senior cap and goal over the break with a stellar back-heeled finish. One of the main problems Curtis has faced has been consistency. He has been capable of great performances but never strung them together for a long period. Let's see if he can begin to do that with tomorrow's game. I would expect to see Mac Allister at some point, but he will not be starting with the travel from South America.
CAM Dominik Szoboszlai - Harvey Elliott is back in training and has been for the whole international break, that being said Szoboszlai may now be on borrowed time. With Elliott back and his lack of end product possibly about to start hurting his minutes, there is no better game to silence some doubters than this. The Hungarian, again, performed brilliantly for his country over the break with a MOTM performance against Germany along with netting a late equalizer with a penalty. We've said it after every international break so far, maybe this time we will be right, but let's hope he can bring that national form back to the club.
RW: Mohamed Salah - Ballon D'or is calling, Player of the Year is calling. Mo Salah has been on a historic run these last few games. Scoring and assisting for fun. I expect him to grab a few returns in this game with how suspect Southampton are defensively. With no AFCON and no international break until March, we could see Salah hit the New Year with twenty goals and twenty assists in all competitions and not even be halfway through the season. The man just defies all logic.
ST: Darwin Nunez - With Darwin not long back from international duty in South America, and Diogo Jota injured, I would expect a short cameo from the Uruguayan, to be replaced by Luis Diaz at some point in the second half, possibly early enough. But expect Nunez to be involved early. Southampton have conceded forty-nine chances from the central position so far this season, with Salah and Nunez firing we could see this game finished by halftime.
LW: Cody Gakpo - Luis Diaz is traveling back from South America, so Cody gets the start here. I would expect him to move centrally later on in the game once Diaz makes his appearance, but with how his form has been of late, you can expect Cody to be deeply involved in creating for the central and right-wing positions this game, as that is where Southampton are most vulnerable.
Key Players
Cameron Archer - 13 Apps, 4 Goals
While Southampton's biggest struggle has been scoring goals this season, given that their top goal scorer only has a brace, it still should be noted that Archer was the one to score against Arsenal recently, and has shown serious promise in front of goal with 3.53 xG over his eleven appearances so far. Making the best of a bad situation it seems as the 22-year-old striker can still be deadly in front of goal. Not to be taken lightly at all.
Mohamed Salah - 17 Apps, 10 Goals, 10 Assists
Mo Salah is a man on a mission this season, playing carefree and possibly the best version of himself. His conversion rate of 25.5% is second only to Luis Diaz(25.7%) at Liverpool this season, averaging 0.62 goals per 90 and 0.42 assists per 90. Southampton have conceded their most(57) chances from the Right-Wing position so expect a massive game from the Egyptian King. I have no doubt he will get on the scoresheet today.
Match Details
St. Mary's Stadium, Southampton
2:00pm BST Kick-Off
Referee: Sam Barrott. Assistants: Lee Betts, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Darren England. VAR: Michael Oliver. Assistant VAR: Mat Wilkes.
Match Prediction
Southampton 0-3 Liverpool
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