MatchThe opposition lowdown: Southampton

Opposition view...

Alfie House, Southern Daily Echo

Firstly, could you give us a brief overview of the season so far for Southampton? How has it been compared to expectations?

Expectations were obviously fairly low this season given the gulf between the Premier League and the Championship. Saints came up as play-off winners, but they've only managed four points from 11 matches, though in that they have dropped points in big positions. They were leading against Leicester and Ipswich at home and only managed a point out of each of those games. I think fans will be fairly disappointed with where they are at the moment overall.

And in terms of key players, who has been important so far? Who should Liverpool fans be looking out for in particular?

Tyler Dibling has burst onto the scene and particularly against Manchester United. He also scored his first goal against Ipswich, though he's actually come out of the team in the last couple of games but he still makes an impact from the bench. Whether he starts or is on the bench I think he'll still make a difference. He's only 18 years old and he plays for England youth - he's a good young player. Other key players include Adam Lallana, who is still doing really well at 36 and Liverpool fans will know him well, and at the back it has been Jan Bednarek and Taylor Harwood-Bellis - but Bednarek is injured.

What is Russell Martin's preferred style of play? How do you think Saints will approach the game at St Mary's?

Martin very much plays possession-based football. They play through the thirds and probably have the most possession in the Premier League barring Manchester City. They pass it around a lot in the back two-thirds but the problem at the moment is they have a very limited attack and don't take enough risks in the final third and take all the risks at the back. They play some brilliant stuff but they need to transfer that into attacking and goals. They'll play exactly the same way with five at the back probably, but it's not defensive.

Predicted line-up

Southampton (5-4-1): McCarthy, Sugawara, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Manning, Walker-Peters, Downes, Lallana, Fernandez, Dibling, Archer.

Team news...

Southampton will be without centre-back Bednarek and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, the former having sustained a knee injury on international duty and the latter undergone a finger operation. Alex McCarthy is set to replace Ramsdale between the posts.

Ross Stewart and Will Smallbone were sidelined with injury before the break, while Gavin Bazunu is a long-term absentee. Ryan Fraser and Kamaldeen Sulemana are set to be available.

Previous meetings...

The most recent clash between the two teams came last season in the Emirates FA Cup, with Southampton a Championship outfit.

The Reds overcame the visitors to Anfield 3-0 in February thanks to a Lewis Koumas strike and a double from Jayden Danns.

In 2022-23, Liverpool played their final game of the campaign at St Mary's, a thrilling 4-4 draw that featured a double from Diogo Jota alongside goals from Roberto Firmino and Cody Gakpo.

Previously in the reverse match at Anfield the Reds were 3-1 winners, with Firmino also on the scoresheet that day, added to by two strikes from Darwin Nunez.

What they said...

Southampton manager Martin

"We showed the guys the Premier League table last season, how it looked at this point and how much it changed by the end [of the season] and by the end of December.

"Honestly, it's such an exciting month. People talk about the difficulty of the games, the level of competition we face in the next four or five games, but it's what we all worked so hard for and we should be excited about the challenge.

"Teams have shown in recent weeks that you can pick up big results against big teams, good opposition. And we're going to have to at some point if we're going to achieve what we want to achieve. And actually, our level of performance against teams at the top end of the table has been good on the whole. We just need to take it a step further and pick up a result.

"I'm really excited about Sunday. We're playing the best team in the country at the moment, on their current form and what they've been doing under their new manager; built on incredible foundations from their previous manager. I'm really looking forward to it."

Pre-match stats...

Liverpool have lost just two of their last 26 Premier League games that have come immediately after an international break (19 wins, five draws).

Southampton have the second-highest figures in the league in 2024-25 so far for passes played (5,970) and pass completion rate (88.5 per cent).

Saints have failed to win any of their last five matches against the Reds since a 1-0 success in January 2021.

This will be the first Premier League match between the sides starting the day bottom and top of the table respectively since April 2023 - when Southampton drew 3-3 away to Arsenal.

Liverpool have lost just one of their last seven visits to St Mary's in the Premier League (four wins, two draws).