Previewing Friday night’s game away against Southampton

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Up next for the Reds, it’s an 8pm kick-off on Friday against 16th-placed Southampton. The trip to St Mary’s will be a lot more tricky than it looks on paper.

We’re slowly regaining the form of champions-elect; we’ve won our last three but were made to work for all of those nine points.

Burnley pushed us after we went behind to an unlawful goal straight from the corner flag, but we showed our class to finish it 4-2.

Equally, the trip down to Craven Cottage wasn’t without its drama and difficulties – a James Milner penalty enough to see us run out 2-1 victors.

Then, of course, a massive 2-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday that was not without its fair share of lunacy. Top-class defending from Virgil van Dijk and a Mo Salah-inspired, last-gasp finish from  Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld own goal mix-up put us back on top of the table.

The title charge is still very much on track. Yes, Manchester City have a game in hand and look nailed-on to beat Cardiff, but all we can do is keep winning games and hope Pep’s men drop points.

On the other hand, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side have won three of their last four games in the league including a 2-1 win against Spurs that mirrors our last outing.

Of that quarter of results the loss came in an unfortunate 3-2 loss away to Manchester United – the Saints are a differenet beast under their Austrian boss.

Southampton are sitting just above the drop zone so they’ll be desperate for a result against us on Friday.

The Saints look to be without Jan Vestergaard, Shane Long and Mario Lemina, while, of course, Danny Ings is ineligible for this one as he’s still technically on loan at the south coast club.

Expect to see Charlie Austin up front with James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond assisting him in attacking duties.

For the Reds, the injury list seems to be getting shorter and shorter as more players return with each passing day. Van Dijk looks to be fit to play against his former club, despite damaging his ankle somewhat in the heroism of defending a Moussa Sissoko/Son Heung-min 2 vs 1 counter on Sunday.

In midfield, Fabinho should be restored to the starting eleven alongside the pair of Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum. At the back, it will be standard procedure – likewise for the other end of the pitch.

Last time out against the Saints, we won 3-0 at Anfield; an early own goal from Wesley Hoedt was followed by goals from Joël Matip and Salah in the first half, putting the game out of sight before the half-time whistle.

At this stage, with City breathing down our necks and expectedly winning their game in hand, all we need are those three points. It will be tense and pressurised, but we should have enough to get the win we need.

Friday night is always a good time to play football – with the noise of the travelling Anfield faithful pushing the Reds on, we should be bringing three points back from Hampshire.

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