After seeing off Porto with professionalism in the Champions League, Liverpool return to Anfield for Saturday's Premier League visit of Southampton.
The Reds' most recent top-flight game saw them teach Arsenal a footballing lesson in a 4-0 success, while the Saints went down 2-1 to Norwich City.
Match preview
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Liverpool quickly found out how hard it would be to breach an Aaron Ramsdale-inspired Arsenal defence last weekend, but when the floodgates opened following Sadio Mane's header, Jurgen Klopp's men showed no mercy.
A second-half flurry of strikes saw Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah and Takumi Minamino strike for a ruthless Liverpool as Mikel Arteta's young guns were humbled, and the Reds continued kept the momentum going by not letting their heads drop in the Champions League.
Despite assuring themselves of a first-placed finish before the visit of Porto, Liverpool kept up their remarkable rate of scoring at least twice with a 2-0 win over the Portuguese giants, with Thiago Alcantara scoring a peach of a strike before Salah doubled his side's tally.
Having recovered from a two-game winless run in the Premier League, Klopp's side occupy third spot in the table - one point adrift of second-placed Manchester City - but leaders Chelsea are currently out of sight with 12 fixtures played.
Liverpool have now scored at least two goals in each of their last 16 games across all competitions and are yet to suffer defeat domestically or continentally at home this term, so Southampton sure do have their work cut out for them.
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Southampton fans could have been forgiven for harbouring hopes of a routine success against a struggling Norwich City side in gameweek 12, with Ralph Hasenhuttl's side entering the encounter on the back of three wins and a draw in the top flight.
However, the Saints became only Norwich's second victims of the new season, as Che Adams's fourth-minute effort was quickly cancelled out by a Teemu Pukki header before Grant Hanley won it for the Canaries in the 79th minute.
Saints goalkeeper Alex McCarthy did not cover himself in glory on the day as Southampton's four-game unbeaten run came to an abrupt end, with that 2-1 defeat leaving them 13th in the rankings with 14 points to their name - five clear of the drop zone.
Southampton may have taken a point from their clash at the Etihad Stadium with Manchester City this season, but with 13 defeats from 17 away games in the top flight since the turn of the year, the Saints boast the worst Premier League away record in 2021 - hardly a reassuring statistic before a trip to Anfield.
Hasenhuttl let emotion take over when his side overcame Liverpool 1-0 at St Mary's last term, but Southampton have lost seven of their last eight league battles with the Reds and are without a goal on the Anfield turf since January 2017 in the EFL Cup.
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Team News
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James Milner, Neco Williams and Divock Origi were all fit to return for Liverpool in the meeting with Porto, while Diogo Jota shook off an injury scare from the Arsenal win to make the bench.
There was hope that Naby Keita may have been ready for his comeback against Southampton, but the Guinea international, Roberto Firmino, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Joe Gomez are set to miss out once more.
Tyler Morton played the full 90 minutes on his first Champions League appearance in midweek, but the teenager is one of several who will make way for returning first-teamers such as Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
As for Southampton, Nathan Redmond missed the defeat to Norwich due to the birth of his child but should return here, while Stuart Armstrong is set to remain sidelined and Moussa Djenepo is back following private problems.
Jack Stephens will spend several more weeks on the sidelines as he battles back from a knee injury, and Redmond's expected return could see Ibrahima Diallo demoted to the bench.
Chelsea loanee Armando Broja continues to push for opportunities up top, but Adams and Adam Armstrong are at little risk of being dropped for the Anfield trip.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Jota, Mane
Southampton possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Livramento, Salisu, Bednarek, Walker-Peters; Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Elyounoussi; Adams, Armstrong
We say: Liverpool 3-0 Southampton
Southampton will boast the fresher legs this week, but Klopp had the luxury of resting many of his big-hitters in midweek, and we can only envisage one outcome here.
The Reds were scintillating in their second-half display against the Gunners and should have no trouble replicating such a goal-laden display at their fortress, so a comfortable home win is surely on the cards.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Liverpool win with a probability of 69.01%. A draw had a probability of 17.7% and a win for Southampton had a probability of 13.32%.
The most likely scoreline for a Liverpool win was 2-0 with a probability of 10.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.65%) and 1-0 (8.69%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (8.17%), while for a Southampton win it was 1-2 (3.84%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 4.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Liverpool would win this match.
