After Manchester City won their league game handsomely, the pressure is back on Liverpool to win tomorrow against Southampton. City’s win pushed Liverpool to the fourth spot and four goals behind on goal difference. With Southampton coming to town tomorrow, Liverpool must be at their best as any more slip ups will prove to be disastrous in their hope of playing in the Champions League next season.
It won’t be an easy task as Liverpool have dropped points in their last two home games against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace. Southampton, on the other hand, are not in a good moment currently and have won just two of their last five games. Claude Puel’s team sit comfortably in mid-table but the Saints don’t have anything to play for currently after falling out of race to finish in the Europa League spots.
Team news
Jordan Henderson is still not ready to feature in the first team squad and will not be present tomorrow. Sadio Mane and Danny Ings are the long term absentees for the Reds. Adam Lallana is back in the reckoning and might start tomorrow. Philippe Coutinho has recovered from a dead leg and has trained with the squad since Thursday.
Saints are all set to receive a much-needed fitness boost as striker Charlie Austin is ready to make a comeback in the team after being out of action since December. Other than him, there are no new injury concerns for Southampton as the away side are expected to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Form guide
Jürgen Klopp has had a horrible time against Southampton with the German yet to taste a league win against Southampton in three attempts. This will be the seventh meeting between the two sides in the last two years with Liverpool winning on just one occasion. But Liverpool can take heart from the fact that Southampton last won a league game at Anfield back in 2013 when Dejan Lovren netted a winner for the Saints in a 1-0 win.
Liverpool: W-D-W-W-L-W
Southampton: D-W-W-L-L-D
Predicted line-ups
Liverpool – Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Matip, Milner, Lucas, Can, Wijnaldum, Coutinho, Firmino, Sturridge
Southampton – Forster, Soares, Stephens, Yoshida, Bertrand, Davis, Romeu, Boufal, Tadic, Redmond, Gabbiadini
Predicted score
Liverpool 2-1 Southampton
Odds
Liverpool win – 8/13
Southampton win – 17/4
Draw – 3/1
