Before today’s clash with our surprise rivals for top 4, Southampton, I spoke to freelance writer and Saints fan Connor Armstrong (@ConnorArmstrong) about the fixture, and his perspective.
To start off, can you tell us about the main dangers Southampton can pose to Liverpool on Sunday, and who you think the real danger-men for your side are?
Saints are quite reliant on their full-backs to provide width, so I’d say Nathaniel Clyne and Matt Targett. But also, Sadio Mané is in a good run of form, with four goals in his last five games for Saints. Tadić and Pellè can always be a threat, but are out of form at current.
You’ve obviously performed above expectations this season, despite losing some key players in the summer…was this as much of a surprise to you as it was to others?
Absolutely! I hoped that a good season for us would see us finishing around 10th, and equalling last season’s 8th-placed finish would have been superb. However, it looks as if we are about to break a record and have our best ever top-flight season in the Premier League era.
Who do you think the top 4 will be, come the end of the season, and if not there then where do you see Southampton finishing?
I still maintain that we will finish 5th or 6th, so I’m going to go with a top four of… Chelsea, City, United, Arsenal
St Mary’s is a notoriously difficult ground to travel to, does that as well as Liverpool’s midweek fixture give your side the advantage?
I’m not sure it does. We’ve performed better on the road than at home this season, and although we’re having a great season, goals have started to become hard to come by. Before the New Year we were much more of a free-scoring side, but now we look solid, if unspectacular.
The corresponding fixture has thrown up plenty of goals in recent times, with the last two League meetings at St Mary’s finishing 3-1 and 3-0… do you expect similar on Sunday?
Not at all. I expect it to be a tight and cagey encounter. Of course, if a goal comes early enough you always have the opportunity for the game to develop into a high-scoring affair.
When looking at the current Liverpool squad, who do you feel poses your side the most threat on Sunday?
Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling. We’ll be without Ryan Bertrand due to suspension, and Toby Alderweireld due to injury. Without a full-strength back-line – despite my faith in Targett and Yoshida – I can see us struggling with their movement.
Finally, can we get a score prediction from you?
As previously said I think the game will be cagey- 1-1 draw.
I will agree with Connor on the game being a tight affair, but think (desperately hope) Liverpool have enough in the attacking department to scrape a win. It won’t be easy, I’ll go for a 1-0.
