Southampton vs Liverpool: Premier League as it happened
Goal updates and latest action from the top-flight meeting at St Mary's
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool arrive at St Mary's resembling something akin to Southampton's parent club. So many of the graduates at Saints have ended up at Anfield in recent years and today Virgil van Dijk plays in the centre of Jurgen Klopp's defence, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane also starting and Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana on the bench.
Mauricio Pellegrino – a former Liverpool player himself – will be desperate to build on last week's 3-2 win over West Brom and ride their momentum away from the drop, especially given Saints' run of five away games in their next six Premier League encounters.
However they face a Liverpool side determined to keep up their top-four push and a forward in Mohamed Salah who cannot stop scoring, with plenty of foils around him that will keep Southampton's defence occupied.
Follow all the action below in our live blog.
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Welcome along to the Independent's live coverage of Southampton vs Liverpool. Kick-off is at 4.30pm, team news coming right up...
Southampton
Southampton: McCarthy; Soares, Stephens, Hoedt, Bertrand; Romeu, Lemina; Ward-Prowse, Højbjerg, Tadic; Carrillo. Subs: Forster, Yoshida, Davis, Boufal, Redmond, Long, Gabbiadini
Liverpool
Karius; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson; Can, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wijnaldum; Mane, Firmino, Salah. Subs: Mignolet, Lovren, Milner, Moreno, Lallana, Ings, Solanke
Team news
So Dejan Lovren has to settle for a place on the bench, with Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the only former Southampton players to win a starting place in Liverpool's team. Southampton's January signing Guido Carrillo leads the line with the in-form James Ward-Prowse playing in a trio of midfielders behind him alongside Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Dusan Tadic.
Liverpool pair Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah warm up ahead of kick-off
Southampton vs Liverpool - last five meetings
- Liverpool 3-0 Southampton, November 2017 (Premier League)
- Liverpool 0-0 Southampton, May 2017 (Premier League)
- Liverpool 0-1 Southampton, January 2017 (League Cup)
- Southampton 1-0 Liverpool, January 2017 (League Cup)
- Southampton 0-0 Liverpool, November 2016 (Premier League)
The players are out on the pitch at St Mary's and kick-off is almost upon us.
5' - A bit of a slow burner, this one.
Not too much to report on other than a suicidal Mario Lemina pass that almost played Roberto Firmino in on goal. The Southampton midfielder just about got away with it, though.
GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Liverpool (Firmino)
6' - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's through pass to Mo Salah should be easily cleared by Wesley Hoedt, but the Southampton defender swipes at the ball and that allows Salah to slot Roberto Firmino in on goal. The Brazilian makes no mistake with his finish as he slots a first-time shot into the bottom corner.
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