Chris Sutton has given his prediction for Liverpool’s FA Cup fifth round clash against Southampton at Anfield on Wednesday night, believing that Jurgen Klopp won’t want to let up in the pursuit of a potential quadruple in his final season at the club.
The Reds have already bagged one piece of domestic silverware after their Carabao Cup final triumph over Chelsea on Sunday, but an extensive injury list has complicated their task for the visit of the promotion-chasing Saints.
Despite LFC being deprived of numerous players and facing a hectic fixture schedule, though, the former Blackburn striker thinks that the home side will still have the quality and desire to get the job done against Russell Martin’s team.
In his FA Cup fifth round predictions for BBC Sport, Sutton went for a 3-1 Liverpool win, writing: “Southampton have hit a bit of a sticky patch but they are still going to play the same way, and be open and expansive.
“They will give Liverpool room to play and the fact the game is at Anfield should help Jurgen Klopp’s side too, whether he goes with the kids again, like he did at Wembley, or not.
“We don’t know if any of the big guns will be back for Liverpool after missing the Carabao Cup final, but we know that, as a team, they are hungry for trophies. In fact, Klopp will be gluttonous, and want to win everything in his final season in charge of the Reds.
“Saints will be brave but Liverpool just love to press teams and are so good at it. That will probably be the difference.”
Although the timing of this fixture amid an injury pile-up and an unrelenting fixture list mightn’t seem the most ideal for Liverpool, they could actually be taking on Southampton at an ideal moment.
The Saints had been on a club record 25-match unbeaten run until recently, but they’ve lost three of their four games since that unprecedented sequence ended, with Fabio Carvalho inflicting some of the damage by scoring for Hull in their 2-1 win at St Mary’s last week.
There’s also a possibility that Martin rotates his team in order to prioritise their push for automatic promotion from the Championship, with the FA Cup clash at Anfield something of a free swing for the south coast outfit.
Where Sutton is absolutely correct is in his belief that Klopp will be ravenous to sign off from Liverpool with as much silverware as possible this season, and the Reds showed yet again on Sunday that they can overcome adversity to get the job done thanks to their incredible mentality.
Southampton will be tricky opponents despite their recent rocky patch, but the home side should prevail if they play to their best tomorrow night.