Star Retains His Place – Possible Liverpool Lineup To Play Against Southampton

Free scoring Liverpool travel to St Mary’s to take on Southampton in what is expected to be a cracking encounter of this year’s tipsy topsy premier League campaign. Southampton had defeated Liverpool at Anfield, a time which looks like ages now, and since then Liverpool have achieved what most people thought was impossible at the start of the season – a potential top 4 finish. So can the Reds defeat Mauricio Pochettino’s men at their own backyard? 

The Saints come into this encounter on the back of a torrid 1-3 loss to West Ham last week but will look  to get their campaign back on track and get the double over the Merseysiders. Liverpool however won 4-3 against Swansea in what was an enthralling match at Anfield and will certainly have to win this one to put a stronghold in their current fourth position. Here is Brendan Rodgers’ strongest possible line up.   

Goalkeeping:

Simon Mignolet should man the Liverpool goal but has to be wary of the excellent Southampton midfield who can tear apart any defence on their day. The likes of Lallana, Rodriguez and Lambert will be quite a handful for the Belgian who has been quite succeptible in the past few weeks. Mingolet’s ball distribution, is at best unsaid and he also needs to take care when coming out from his line to grab those crosses from the flanks.

Defence:

Liverpool’s back four has been pretty ordinary, leaking goals quite too often and will come under huge scrutiny from Southampton’s attacking prowess. Glen Johnson who returned to the starting lineup last week should retain his starting place after a decent performance against the Swans, while Jon Flanagan who is continued to grow in stature should start from the left back slot. Daniel Agger must occupy the defensive role alongside Martin Skrtel who despite his poor outing last week should keep his place ahead of Kolo Toure in the heart of back four as the Danish-Slovak partnership will look to muster up a clean sheet or keep mistakes at bay, if the Reds are to get anything from this encounter.

Midfield:

Jordan Henderson comes into this fixture on the back of his best match in a Liverpool shirt and with the Swansea game under his belt, the youngster will be more confident as ever. Alongside the twenty three year old will be the calming influence of Captain Steven Gerrard, who has matured and developed in his new defensive midfield role. Philippe Coutinho will be starting from the left again as Raheem Sterling playing wide right to provide width on the pitch. The Englishman has been brilliant in the past few games using his scorching pace to turn defenders inside out. While the Brazilian will make forays in the middle of the park, he will eventually link up time and again with the two strikers up front to rattle the Saints defensive discipline.

Forward:

The SAS partnership of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge has been on the rise ever since the former’ return to first team after serving his 8 match ban from last season. The English-Uruguayan pair has been the cause of mayhem in the opposition defences week in, week out. While Sturridge is in red hot goal scoring streak, becoming the first player since Ruud Van Nistelrooy to score in eight consecutive Premier League games, Rodgers wouldn’t be worried over Suarez’s lack of the goals as the Uruguayan more than makes it up for his wizardry assists and dazzling runs in the opposition third.