CHRIS SUTTON'S PREDICTIONSL
Sunday, 24 November
St Mary's Stadium, 14:00 GMT
Liverpool could not have wished for a better start under Arne Slot, whose side are five points clear at the top.
This is a game where everyone is expecting them to easily beat bottom side Southampton, and understandably so.
I am expecting Liverpool to win too, but I don’t think it will be an absolute walloping.
Saints are scrapping and they proved they can be resilient when they lost narrowly to Manchester City at the end of last month, so they can make it hard for Slot's side too.
Sutton's prediction: 0-2
Peter's prediction: I was looking at the Premier League website and not many teams at the bottom have ever beaten a team at the top. There have been 39 games between top and bottom, with bottom only winning four of them and I can’t see this being any different.
My only worry is that a lot of our players will have been in South America but it definitely helps that we are playing on Sunday and have 24 hours more rest. We have got two massive games coming up next week, against Real Madrid then Manchester City, so I think we might be rotating our squad a bit here anyway. Hopefully Slot carries on his pragmatic way of winning games. 0-2
Peter on Liverpool's lead at the top of the table: Our fans think five points is nothing, it's got to be 15 before we start thinking about the title. We know how City always come back in the second half of the season because we have had these clashes before. Next weekend’s game [when City go to Anfield] is a big test for us and it is going to be crucial. I think both teams would be quite happy with a draw.
JONES KNOWS BEST HAS GONE FOR AWAY WIN TOO.
Southampton vs Liverpool, Sunday 2pm, live on Sky Sports - PLAY SUPER 6!
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Southampton remain like a bad Christmas present. They go to pieces in the box.
The middle bit is quite attractive and you can see what Russell Martin is trying to achieve but in key moments in matches, in key areas of the pitch, the Saints remain a feeble outfit.
Liverpool are bound to punish that soft underbelly at various moments in this match, most likely from set pieces where Southampton are dreadful at defending their box.
They have conceded seven goals from set pieces this season to a backdrop of 7.28 worth of expected goals so the numbers do add up. Strangely, Arne Slot's team have actually struggled to create many moments from their attacking set plays, registering just 29 shots - the fewest of any team from such situations this season.
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Southampton
Liverpool
Sunday 24th November 1:00pmKick off 2:00pm
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Nevertheless, in Virgil van Dijk they have an aerial dual-winning maestro who ranks third in first contacts from attacking corners this season (7) - only James Tarkowski and Gabriel have won more.
Van Dijk has scored two headers this season already and a third might be on the way with Sky Bet dangling 14/1 about the prospect.
SCORE PREDICTION: 0-2
Liverpool away to Southampton on Sunday 24th November first game after international break. By the time we play this game, we are still going to on top of the table regardless of the result between Manchester city and Tottenham late kick off Saturday evening. We are playing Carabao cup quarter final on the 18th of
