Southampton vs Liverpool
Liverpool’s assault on the 2019/20 Premier League hits the road on Saturday as Jurgen Klopp leads his title hopefuls to the South Coast to take on Southampton.
After narrowly missing out on a league title last season it’s a game the Reds must win to build up some crucial early-season momentum, while the Saints could do with a result to avoid starting their season with back to back defeats.
Head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl arrived at St Mary’s in December when Southampton was heading further south, and the former RB Leipzig boss has brought belief to the Saints, but they’ll need more than belief on Sunday to thwart the Reds!
Talking Points
Can Reds keep pace with City?
For months the Kop faithful had a dream; then as the finishing line came into view last season, they had real belief that they would win a first league title in 29 years. They were neck and neck with Manchester City with five games to go, and the Sky Blues had a tougher run-in. And every one of us Sbobet Premier League fans know what happened next…
So could this be the year for Klopp and his swashbuckling team? Well, the Reds made a near perfect start to their season with a 4-1 home win over Norwich. They rarely moved out of second gear after going in 4-0 up at half time and on Friday night they were ahead. But then Manchester City went to a hopeful West Ham, and hammered the hammers 0-5, with a sixth goal ruled out by millimetres. Ominously for Klopp, the early season Premier League betting odds back a third consecutive title for City.
While its Top Six rivals splashed the cash, Liverpool has been fairly quiet in the summer transfer scramble and so Jurgen Klopp is largely going with what he’s got, and it ain’t too shabby! Mo Salah and Sadio Mane hit top form last season, along with Roberto Firmino, scoring 69 goals between them in all competitions; and 28 year old Virgil Van Dijk emerged to be arguably the best centre back on the planet as the Reds conceded only 22 goals.
Winning the Champions League last season sent the Merseysiders into ecstasy; but the Liverpool faithful desperately wants a Premier League title…desperately!
Saints must be more ruthless
No-one would say Southampton were shot shy last season, they had an impressive 483 attempts on goal, but managed to hit the net only 45 times and that made it a tough campaign, with the threat of relegation never far away.
Danny Ings is a fine striker when he’s fit. The former Burnley and Liverpool man looked set fair for an England career until injury put paid to that dream. He has had knee trouble on and off throughout his career and the Saints desperately need him to stay fit.
Hassenhuttl has strengthened in the summer, bringing in striker Che Adams from Championship club Birmingham City. He featured in the opening fixture away to Burnley, and had he scored an early chance the outcome of a 3-0 defeat would have been very different.
The new boss’ arrival breathed life into Nathan Redmond, who had a superb second half of the season and will be hoping to build on that. And alongside him, James Ward-Prowse found the form of his life as the Saints pulled away from danger.
History
Southampton has really struggled at home; registering only 15 wins at the St Mary’s Stadium in the last three years. That would be relegation form were it not for regular successes on the road. After a trip down the coast to Brighton next week the Saints entertain Manchester United so it doesn’t get much easier. Premier League results are hard to come by at the best of times, but against the North West big guns they can look elusive.
Liverpool has bossed the head to heads with 22 wins to Southampton’s 11 over the past 42 games and beat every team in the bottom half, home and away, last season.
Last season the Reds beat the Saints by 3-0 at Anfield and 3-1 at St Marys.
Betting Tip
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Southampton vs Liverpool | Liverpool -1.25 @1.91 |
| August 17, 22:00(GMT+8) |
A home game against Unai Emery’s Arsenal awaits the Reds, and that should be their stiffest test so far but Liverpool won’t take Southampton lightly.
The Saints are at 7.80 to win, long odds for a home side with the draw at 4.60 and Liverpool at 1.39 to win. I’m backing the Reds to get a similar result to last season.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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 = €20 (Highly confident) |
= €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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