Arne Slot and Liverpool are set to travel south to face 20th-placed Southampton in their next clash in week 12 of their Premier League campaign. The Reds are currently five points ahead of second-placed Manchester City, who host a crumbling Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad. Slot will ensure their five-point gap is maintained at worst and, at best, widened before welcoming Manchester City to Anfield next weekend in the Premier League.

Liverpool come into this match on the back of a thirteen match unbeaten run, with just one draw also during that period. Historically, the Reds have been by far the better team in this match, having lost six of the last twenty-six meetings with Southampton in all competitions, winning sixteen and drawing the remaining four.

The stark difference between the teams doesn’t stop there, and this season highlights it even more. Liverpool have both the defensive record and the best goal difference record in the Premier League. Southampton, on the other hand, are the other side of the coin. Scoring just one more than Liverpool have conceded all season, and conceding twenty-one goals so far this season.

Southampton

Southampton are expected 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 expected 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 (hit)

Harvey Elliott has returned to training with the first team and could feature in Sunday’s game, and despite reports earlier in the week that Virgil van Dijk could be missing due to injury, Arne Slot confirmed in his press release. press conference earlier everything was fine.

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. Training only with goalkeeper coaches and not with the first team. Slot stressed the need for Alisson to be fully fit before returning to the starting line-up. Kelleher has been fantastic since taking over from Alisson following the Brazilian’s hamstring injury in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace. Another clean sheet should be on the cards today for the Irishman.

RB: Conor Bradley – While Trent Alexander-Arnold went off early in the clash against Aston Villa, fortunately avoiding serious damage, the Scouser missed his entire international duty and may be expected to miss both this game with Southampton and the midfield game. week when Real Madrid travel to Anfield for UEFA. Champions League. Bradley has been incredible in his appearances so far this season, and after being in great form in international duty, we expect that to continue this weekend.

CB: Ibrahima Konaté – Appointed French captain during the international break in the absence of Kylian Mbappe, Konate has gone from strength to strength this season with world-class performances becoming almost second nature. The French defender is on track to have the best season of his career if he maintains his form, and has formed the best defensive duo this season with Virgil van Dijk as co-gunner at the back.

CB: Virgil van Dijk – Having left international duty prematurely, Virgil felt some discomfort which was confirmed by Dutch national coach Ronald Koeman. But thankfully, Slot quickly put those rumors to rest in his Friday speech. press conference declaring Virg ‘it was good’and the entire Liverpool fan base collectively sighed with relief. Van Dijk is quietly enjoying the best season since his Ballon D’or tenure in 2019, which is massively underrated by the media. Maybe because 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 the Premier League and UEFA Champions League tables.

GM: Kostas Tsimikas – It could have been a clash between Andrew Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas, realistically, as both have found form recently. But given the upcoming schedule, it’s simply a skill preference that has Kostas in the starting position in this match, and perhaps also in midweek against Real Madrid. The Greek Scouser has stepped up this season when called upon and has improved enormously in his deliveries into the box from set pieces. Expect this to be a big factor in this game as well.

CDM: Ryan Gravenberch – Ryan played few minutes during the international break, including in the second game earlier this week. This will allow us to consider the matches of the next seven days. This will perhaps be the biggest test yet for Gravenberch with the Real Madrid and Manchester City midfielder in the near future, so returning to his usual stunning form will be paramount in today’s match. I don’t foresee any problems for him today, but it will be nice to have some more sharpness in his game before that big double header next week.

CDM: Curtis Jones – As Alexis Mac Allister returns from South America, Curtis gets the green light. Not without merit either as he earned his first senior international cap and scored on the break with a superb back-heel finish. One of the main issues Curtis faced was consistency. He was capable of great performances but never chained them together for a long period of time. Let’s see if he can start doing that with tomorrow’s game. I would expect to see Mac Allister at some point, but he won’t start by traveling from South America.

CAM Dominik Szoboszlai – Harvey Elliott is back in training and has been throughout the international break, that being said, Szoboszlai may now be on borrowed time. With Elliott back and his lack of end product about to start hurting his minutes, there’s no better play to silence some doubters than this one. The Hungarian, once again, performed brilliantly for his country during the break with a MOTM performance against Germany and late equalizer with a penalty. We’ve said it after every international break so far, maybe this time we’ll be right, but let’s hope he can bring that domestic form back to the club.

AD: Mohamed Salah – The Ballon D’Or is calling, the Player of the Year is calling. Mo Salah has had a historic run in recent matches. Score and help for fun. I expect him to pick up some returns in this game with Southampton’s defensive suspicion. With no CAN or international break before March, we could see Salah enter the new year with twenty goals and twenty assists in all competitions and not even be halfway through the season. This man defies all logic.

ST: Darwin Nunez – With Darwin only recently returned from international duty in South America and Diogo Jota injured, I would expect a short appearance from the Uruguayan, replaced by Luis Diaz at some point in the second half, perhaps quite early. 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 shooting we could see this game go to half-time.

AG: Cody Gakpo – Luis Diaz returns from South America, so Cody gets the start here. I would expect him to move to center later in the game once Diaz makes his appearance, but with the way his form has been lately, you can expect Cody to be deep into it in creating the central and right-wing positions in this match, as this is where Southampton are most vulnerable.

Cameron Archer – 13 apps, 4 goals

Although Southampton’s biggest difficulty has been scoring goals this season, given their top scorer only has a brace, it is still worth noting that Archer was the one to score against Arsenal recently and showed great promise in front of goal with 3.53 xG. on his eleven appearances so far. Making the best of a bad situation, it seems, as the 22-year-old striker can still be lethal in front of goal. Not to be taken lightly at all.

Mohamed Salah – 17 assists, 10 goals, 10 assists

Mo Salah is a man on a mission this season, playing carefree and perhaps 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 the most number (57) of chances from the right wing, so expect massive play from the Egyptian king. I have no doubt he will be on the scoresheet today.

St. Mary’s Stadium, Southampton

2:00 p.m. BST Kick-off

Referee: Sam Barrott. Assistants: Lee Betts, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Darren England. VAR: Michael Oliver. Assistant VAR: Mat Wilkes.

Southampton 0-3 Liverpool