Interview'We can't take our foot off the gas' - Caoimhin Kelleher previews Southampton v Liverpool

The Reds travel to St Mary's as league leaders for the 2pm GMT kick-off, while newly promoted Saints are sat at the foot of the table after 11 games of the top-flight campaign.

Ahead of the fixture, Kelleher - who is set to continue in goal in the absence of Alisson Becker - explained Liverpool's expectation of meeting a tough opponent on the south coast, despite the 24-point difference between the two teams in the standings.

"The manager was saying that again this week," he told Liverpoolfc.com. "As players we know ourselves, they're a really good team. I think they've just been a bit unlucky with results and stuff.

"But they play a great style of football, they're really good with the ball and they create lots of chances. We're expecting a really tough game. I don't think we're looking at the league position too much."

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Kelleher added: "We as players and the staff as well know, we're not silly. We know how good they are and the quality that these players have. I think sometimes the results don't reflect the quality that's in the actual team.

"You need to take every team in this league very seriously or else you'll end up not getting good results. We're going to prepare as if we're playing a Man City or a Chelsea or an Arsenal. For teams like that we're going to prepare the exact same and give it our all."

The No.62 celebrates his 26th birthday today, having made the step up from the club's Academy ranks to the senior squad since arriving as a teen.

On how quickly his career at the Reds has passed, he said: "Absolutely, it's gone really quick. Since I've come over it has flown really the whole time. It's been a really good time and it's nice to celebrate another one here.

"It was a challenge for me. I was young and hoping and dreaming like the rest of the lads in the Academy that I could get up to the first team and play a few games. I'm really happy with the way it has gone so far and hopefully it keeps going well."

Read on for the rest of the pre-match interview with Kelleher…

On whether he gets the chance to reflect on what he has achieved so far in his career...

I don't get too much time obviously with all the games, but there's certain times when you do maybe take a step back from everything and think about how far you've come and how well you've done to get to this point. I think most importantly you need to focus on what's ahead and trying to do well. Sometimes it is nice to just take a little bit of time to think how well you've done.

On whether having a change of scenery with international football can be a positive...

I love going away with my country and I love going away to see the lads. A lot of them I have known from underage teams and stuff like that. I'm obviously quite close to them and we all get on really well. I've always loved playing for my country, it's a massive thing for me. It's nice to get away and sometimes a little change of scenery for a week or so is nice. It's nice when you get back here to see all the lads and you're straight on with them again.

On meeting a familiar face in Adam Lallana once again this weekend...

Adam was always great with us. I was a bit younger when he was here, but he was always really kind and always willing to give time to the younger players as well, which is nice. He was always very vocal in the changing room as well, which helped. Obviously a lot of the lads are very fond of him and it'll be nice to see him.

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On the 'hunger' in the current squad this season compared with the team that won the Premier League in 2019-20...

There's obviously I think a big hunger in us to win more trophies and really compete at the highest level. A lot of that squad has departed now so there's not too many of the squad in there who have tasted Premier League or Champions League success. There's a lot of hunger in this new squad to achieve those kind of things. We know we have the quality, but we need to go out and show it. Definitely there is a lot of hunger throughout the whole squad.

On how the squad will approach a busy upcoming period and growing expectations...

After this last international break it's quite intense now obviously with us playing every three days pretty much. We're not going to take anything for granted. I know maybe the outside is already making some noise about us being so far ahead in the league now, but we don't really think about that. We know we can't take our foot off the gas for one second because we'll get punished. Our focus is on Southampton first and then trying to get some wins.