A reduced weekend in the Premier League begins on Friday night when Southampton play host to some of their former players and their current club Liverpool in a huge match at St Mary’s Stadium, one which will impact both ends of the table.
Southampton have the chance to pull further away from the foot of the table here while Liverpool know they have an opportunity to go above Manchester City and back to the top and put the pressure back on Pep Guardiola’s men.
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Southampton
The Saints have given themselves a real chance of staying up this season. Three wins in their last four matches has been the catalyst of that and although they have been unable to get into a rhythm with some seriously lengthy breaks between their matches recently, they have used those breaks to formulate good tactical switches and progress themselves as a unit on the training pitch.
That should give Ralph Hasenhuttl and his men the belief and confidence to attack this match in the right way. In many ways this is a free hit for Southampton. Their safety or otherwise will be determined by the results they achieve in matches against sides around them in the table so we should see a fluent performance from them, even if they do look to play on the counter attack.
Liverpool
The Reds head to Hampshire with just one defeat on their ledger, which came away to Manchester City in January. Usually with a record like that they would be strolling to the title but that is not the case and they know they must keep winning, not just to keep their chances realistic, but to put pressure on the Citizens and hope that they eventually crack.
Liverpool were free scoring earlier in the campaign but things have got a little tighter for them now and they have begun to really ride their luck a little in recent times. At this stage of the season it is all about just winning but if they can do that and put in an eye-catching performance then that would be the ideal situation. This is a match they can’t afford to lose though.
Team News
Southampton will be without on loan striker Danny Ings. He is ineligible against his parent club while Ralph Hasenhuttl will give fitness tests to both Jannik Vestergaard and Shane Long. Mario Lemina remains on the sidelines.
Liverpool are expected to have defender Virgil van Dijk available for this match against his former club, but it comes too soon for both Joe Gomez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. With a Champions League game next week Jurgen Klopp could rotate his midfielders.
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Betting
I have to be with Southampton on this particular handicap. They are getting a 1.5 goal head start on the Asian lines which looks very big when you consider the only time Liverpool have scored twice on their travels since Christmas was at Fulham, and they needed a goalkeeping calamity and a penalty to achieve that. This is no longer a free scoring Liverpool side, certainly not on their travels.
The only matches Liverpool have won on their travels since Christmas were at Brighton and Fulham – both by one goal – and both needed a penalty to seal the win. Southampton are nothing like fantastic but they have been very competitive under Hasenhuttl. They have lost just one of their last five home matches and beaten Tottenham in that time. I don’t know what the result will be here but recent history suggests Southampton can stay within one.
Tips
Back Southampton (+1.5AH) to beat Tottenham for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
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