Liverpool travel to St Mary's Stadium on Saturday as they prepare to face Southampton. The Reds have just come off the back of a dramatic Swansea win and will no doubt be aiming to fix their evident defensive issues in this fixture however Southampton beat the Reds at home earlier in the season and so they will certainly be applying pressure on the Liverpool goal.
Injury wise Liverpool have seen the return of Lucas Leiva and Mamadou Sakho to training, a late decision will be made by Rodgers and co to determine whether they will feature. For Southampton they are in a relatively strong position but will also have two players subject to late fitness tests with doubts hanging over both Wanyama and Hooiveld.
Southampton are currently 9th in the league and have been pretty consistent in recent months losing only one of their last six matches. Southampton notched up the loss at West Ham conceding three goals in the process.
Liverpool have also been consistent in their recent fixtures and they haven't lost a game in their last six. Currently placed fourth in the table, the Reds have been going strong but it hasn't been as easy as the table states. A 4-3 win over Swansea and a 3-2 win over Fulham have saw Liverpool fight hard for their points, for the time being all that matters is that the win is collected but it does make you wonder how long the Reds can go without creating stronger performances from the defence.
The last time the two sides met was in September last year. Southampton scored the only goal of the game via Lovren the result caught Liverpool off guard but Southampton proved to be formidable opposition at that stage of the season.
The Reds last trip to Southampton also ended badly with the Southerners putting three past Brad Jones. A goal from Coutinho on 45 minutes put Liverpool back in the game at 2-1 but it just wasn't to be. In fact Liverpool have struggled on several trips to St Mary's, their last win there came in early 2003 and Emile Heskey was on the score sheet that day!
Stats don't mean everything of course but Liverpool's away form against Southampton is poor to say the least and it will be a tough game tomorrow for a Reds side already leaking goals.
Stat Sandwich
- Liverpool have scored a massive 70 goals in their last 27 league games.
- Southampton have lost 15 points from winning positions in the league this season.
- Luis Suarez has notched up nine assists so far this season.
I think it's going to be a very difficult game for the Reds tomorrow especially with the recent defensive troubles, however you just have to feel that there will also be goals on our part. I think depending on the layout of the game and the manner in which it starts, this could go either way for Liverpool.
Sometimes an early goal for the Reds spells disaster because the opposition have plenty of time to get back into the game. Maintaining a clean sheet and scoring later in the game could in fact aid Liverpool. On the other hand the stats showing Southampton's loss of points from winning positions is also encouraging for the Reds if they do fall behind early on in the game.
I don't think I'm going to have any bets tomorrow as I genuinely feel as though the scoreline could be absolutely anything I just hope Liverpool can find another three points.
Apologies for the lack of tweets and score predictions in this week's preview by the way, I've had a lot on my mind this week so just didn't remember, be sure to send me your tweets after the game though for a chance to feature in the report!
Enjoy the match folks!