Liverpool vs Southampton: Facts & Stats

Liverpool will look to extend their Premier League unbeaten run to six consecutive wins this weekend in what would only be the third time in their club history, when they take on Southampton in the 86^th league meeting between the two clubs. The two previous times the Reds started their top tier campaign with six wins from six games they came second at the end of the 1990-91 season and won the League Championship in the 1978-79 season.

Liverpool certainly looked a cut above Paris St-Germain on Tuesday evening in their Champions League group stage clash and a second home game in the same week is likely to see them continue their winning form against the travelling Saints, who are currently in 13^th place on the Premier League table.

Liverpool’s Form

After a strong start to their PL campaign with five consecutive wins, the Reds find themselves in second place on the table with a one goal difference between them and Chelsea. Liverpool have only conceded twice in the PL so far; once against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium two weeks ago and away against Spurs at Wembley Stadium last Saturday.

This Saturday’s game will mark Jürgen Klopp’s 600^th League match as a manager. He began his managerial career at FSV Mainz 05 from 2001 to 2008, followed by almost six years as the manager of Borussia Dortmund which began in 2009 until he stepped down at the end of the 2014-15 German Bundesliga season and subsequently arrived at Liverpool in October 2015. Out of the 600 league games, Klopp has won 295, drawn 158 and lost 146 games.

Liverpool have kept a clean sheet in each of their last four PL games against the Saints.

Liverpool vs Southampton: Head to Head

All time – Wins: 53 Losses: 30 Draws: 25
Premier League: Wins: 18 Losses: 10 Draws: 10
Last five meetings: Wins: 2 Losses: 1 Draws: 2

Since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, 13 players have represented both Southampton and Liverpool with Liverpool spending a total of GBP 173 million on the purchase of Saints’ players.

The 13 players who have played for both clubs are:

Bruce Grobbelaar: Liverpool 1981 – 1994, Southampton 1994 – 1996
Mark Walters: Liverpool 1991 – 1996, Southampton 1996
Paul Jones: Southampton 1997 – 2004, Liverpool 2004 (Loan)
Jamie Redknapp: Liverpool 1991 – 2002, Southampton 2005
Peter Crouch: Southampton 2004 – 2005, Liverpool 2005 – 2008
Rickie Lambert: Southampton 2009 – 2014, Liverpool 2014 – 2015
Adam Lallana: Southampton 2000 – 2014, Liverpool 2014 – date
Dejan Lovren: Southampton 2013 – 2014, Liverpool 2015 – date
Nathaniel Clyne: Southampton 2012 – 2015, Liverpool 2015 – date
Sadio Mané: Southampton 2014 – 2016, Liverpool 2016 – date
Steven Caulker: Southampton 2015 – 2016 (Loan), Liverpool 2016 (Loan)
Virgil van Dijk: Southampton 2015 – 2018, Liverpool 2018 – date
Danny Ings: Liverpool 2015 – 2018, Southampton 2018 – date

Southampton’s Form

The Saints have only won three of their last 19 Premier League matches when they have played at Anfield. They last won there in September 2013 and have lost 10 and drawn six.

Southampton are yet to find their form under Mark Hughes, who took over from Mauricio Pellegrino on 14 March this year. Saints are the sixth PL club to be managed by Hughes, who played for five different top-flight clubs during his career. After guiding Southampton to safety last season, Hughes signed a new three-year deal on 25 May 2018.

Southampton have won one, drawn two and lost two in their PL campaign this season and are in 13th place with five points out of a possible 15.

With Liverpool having completed the double over Southampton last season, expect to see more of the same on Saturday. Both of last season’s fixtures ended without a goal from the Saints while Liverpool scored a total of five goals over the two PL legs.

Thus, with that in mind, I’m going with a conservative 3 – 0 Liverpool win.

Up the Reds!