Liverpool vs. Southampton
Venue: Anfield Stadium
Kick off: 3PM
Liverpool will be looking to maintain their perfect start to the season and regain their place at the top of the Premier League table when they host Southampton at Anfield this afternoon.
The Reds have won all six of their outings across all competitions so far this term, but they come up against a Southampton team unbeaten in three after overcoming a poor start to the campaign.
Today could prove to be an historic day in the illustrious 126-year history of Liverpool as the class of 2018-19 bid to achieve something no other Liverpool team has managed.
None of the previous 18 title-winning teams, five Champions League-winning teams or any other incarnation of Liverpool down the years has ever won their opening seven competitive matches of the season – a feat Jurgen Klopp’s side find themselves on the brink of today.
The Reds have so far lived up to their pre-season billing of genuine title contenders, although despite a perfect start in terms of results, Klopp will feel that there is still plenty more to come from his side.
However, Southampton fans may have been fearing a repeat of last season’s struggle against the drop when they began the new campaign with only one point from their opening three games, but they have since begun to show signs of improvement.
Back-to-back defeats against Everton and Leicester City have been followed by victories over Brighton & Hove Albion in the EFL Cup and Crystal Palace in the Premier League – both of which came away from home.
There will be an element of frustration that they are not sitting more comfortably than their current position of 13th, though, having let a two-goal lead slip in the final 25 minutes of Monday’s match against Brighton.
The Saints would be sitting in the top half of the table had they held on to that, but for many fans the collapse would not have come as a major surprise, it being the latest example of a worrying trend.
Seven of their next eight games come against teams currently in the top half of the table too, and that is before you even get to November, when they take on Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal in the space of four matches.
Hughes will be firmly focused on the here and now, though, and his side will need to be at their very best if they are to get anything from Anfield today.
Liverpool possible XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson, Milner, Wijnaldum, Keita Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Southampton possible XI: McCarthy, Cedric, Vestergaard, Hoedt, Bertrand, Lemina, Romeu, Elyounoussi, Hojbjerg, Redmond, Long.