Venue: St Mary’s
Date: 16/03/13
Kick-Off: 15:00
Liverpool FC head to Southampton on Saturday looking for a fifth straight win after last weekend’s superb 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
With nine league games remaining, skipper Steven Gerrard has called for the Reds to target a perfect finish in order to secure maximum points and perhaps even break back into the top four.
It was a penalty from Gerrard that proved to be the winning goal at Anfield last weekend, following goals from Luis Suarez and Stewart Downing earlier in the match. Suarez has now scored 22 league goals this campaign – three more than Robin van Persie and six more than Tottenham’s Gareth Bale, who is believed to be Suarez’s main threat for the Player of the Year award. Speaking after the game, Gerrard was full of praise for the Reds number 7, with the skipper claiming that if Suarez is overlooked for Player of the Year this season he will be the best player ever not to win an award.
Liverpool’s main injury worry going into the weekend is keeper Pepe Reina, who missed the match against Tottenham with a calf injury. The Spaniard will be given a fitness test on Friday and if he is unavailable, Brad Jones will deputise for Reina once again.
Jones has shown himself to be a reliable backup keeper this season, keeping two clean sheets in his six league appearances and conceding just six goals.
Midfielder Joe Allen will travel to St Marys, despite Brendan Rodgers revealing last weekend that the Welsh midfielder requires shoulder surgery. Allen has been playing through the problem and he was named in the Wales squad for their next two World Cup qualifiers. In his pre-match press conference, Rodgers did not set a date on when Allen would have his surgery but said that it is something the club will look to get organised in the next couple of months.
Southampton were beaten 1-0 when they visited Anfield back in December, with a goal from Daniel Agger separating the two sides. The Saints have won just one of their seven league matches since Argentine Mauricio Pochettino replaced Nigel Adkins as manager, drawing three games and losing three.
Going into Saturday’s game, Southampton are in 16th place, four points above the drop zone. Their main goalscoring threat is striker Rickie Lambert, who has managed 12 league goals this season.
With Liverpool in good form and Southampton struggling, Brendan Rodgers’ side are favourites to take three points away from their visit to St Mary’s. Depending on results elsewhere, a win on Saturday could see Liverpool move into fifth place, while defeat could see the Reds drop to eighth.
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