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2024/25 English Premier League
Matchday 12
Southampton v Liverpool
St Mary's Stadium
Southampton, England
Sunday, 24 November 2024
Kick-off is at 16h00
Liverpool will be keen to keep the momentum going when they make the long journey to the south coast for a clash with Southampton at St Mary's on Sunday, November 24.
Arne Slot has made a fine start to his career on Merseyside, equalling a record held by Guus Hiddink (28) for the most points recorded by a manager in his first 11
Premier League games.
The Reds have lost just one of their opening 11 matches and opened up a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa prior to the international break.
City suffered back-to-back defeats in the league for the first time in 13 months as they were beaten 2-1 by Brighton on November 9, with Chelsea (3rd) and Arsenal (4th) a further four points behind following their 1-1 draw on November 10.
The Saints failed to build on their first win of the season against Everton after going down 2-0 to fellow strugglers Wolves on November 9 which left them rooted to the foot of the table on four points.
The Old Gold finally got their campaign up and running to pull two points clear of Russell Martin's side in 19th position, while Crystal Palace dropped into the relegation zone after a 2-0 reverse to Fulham on November 9.
Martin is set to be without Aaron Rams dale for the visit of the league leaders after the goalkeeper sustained a broken finger against Wolves. He joins Gavin Bazunu (calf) and Jan Bedmate (knee) on the sidelines, but Ryan Fraser, Ross Stewart (calf), William Smallbone (thigh) and Flynn Downers could feature.
The visitors could welcome back Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold (both thigh), Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott (ankle), although Diogo Jota (chest) remains unavailable.
Southampton had 71 per cent of the possession at Molineux, but Martin felt his players didn't do enough with the ball in the final third after failing to hit the target once from their nine attempts at goal.
"We should do more with the ball. To come here and have as much as we did, is not easy. We should not take that for granted," he said.
"To be in the final third as much as we were, I would expect us to have something to show for it. It is not good enough. We were made to pay for individual errors.
"It is not enough. We can't just turn up and fight. The team is not built for that. It builds up to get to the final third so they can do their stuff. It just did not come to enough."
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Slot played down the significance of a third consecutive home win in the space of a week, insisting there is still a long way to go in the season and any one of their rivals are capable of building up a head of steam.
"It was definitely a big week but every game is a big week," the Dutchman said. "We play so many games in all these competitions against so much strong opponents, so hopefully we will have a lot of these weeks to come because these weeks are mostly big if you are competing for something and that is what we are doing at the moment.
"We also know it's a long season where we have to continuously be on top of our game because the likes of Arsenal, City and Chelsea and all these other clubs are able to win just as many games as we did in the first 15 to 16 games. So, we have to stay on top of our game, which is never going to be easy but we'll push for it as much as we can."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Southampton wins - 0
Liverpool wins - 4
Draws - 1
Premier League Matchday 12 fixtures:
Saturday, November 23
14h30: Leicester City v Chelsea
17h00: Bournemouth v Brighton & Hove Albion
17h00: Arsenal v Nottingham Forest
17h00: Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
17h00: Everton v Brentford
17h00: Fulham v Wolverhampton Wanderers
19h30: Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur
Sunday, November 24
16h00: Southampton v Liverpool
18h30: Ipswich Town v Manchester United
Monday, November 25
22h00: Newcastle United v West Ham United
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