Liverpool return to the top of the English Premier League after a landslide 3-0 win over Southampton at the Anfield Stadium on Saturday (9/22). Liverpool face Southampton with a determination to continue their positive trend in the English Premier League while at the same time taking over the top of the table from Chelsea.
The attack was launched by the Reds to Southampton since the early minutes of the first half. Not wanting to lose, Southampton had the first chance in the ninth minute through Ryan Bertrand. But Liverpool’s back line is still quite solid to stem the attack from the visitors.
The hosts could finally break the deadlock through an own goal by defender Wesley Hoedt in the 10th minute. Starting from Shaqiri’s action on the left side, the former Stoke City player’s strike hit Shane Long and hit Hoedt who went straight to goalkeeper Alex MacCarthy.
Liverpool could add to the advantage to 2-0 in the 21st minute through defender Joel Matip. The goal was a combination of the Liverpool defender. Alexander-Arnold’s trend of being a corner kick executor successfully gave feedback to Matip. The Cameroonian’s header headed towards the right corner of the opponent’s goal.
Ahead of the first half after Liverpool added another goal through Mohamed Salah in the 45th minute. A free kick in the final minutes of the first half by Shaqiri hit the Southampton crossbar. Wild ball that was still rolling in front of the goal was immediately using by Salah to become a goal.
In the second round a number of changes were made by Juergen Klopp. In addition to entering James Milner to replace Xherdan Shaqiri, defender Virgil van Dijk was also pulled out due to injury by being replaced by Joe Gomez.
Changing host tactics seems to benefit Southampton. Mark Hughes’s team can play more freely and control the match. Liverpool themselves seem to choose to wait to counterattack.
Until the game runs until the 60th minute, total Liverpool have released seven shots while Southampton 1, with the right target 3 versus 0. Liverpool’s game in the second round was not as aggressive as the first half. It is possible that the Red Merseyside team will save energy for the League Cup match against Chelsea midweek.
Mohamed Salah had a goal in the 89th minute after utilizing the chaos in front of Southampton’s goal. It’s just that referee Paul Tierney annulled the goal because Salah was in an offside position.
Liverpool finally closed the match 3-0. The victory again led the Reds to the top of the standings with a two-point lead over Manchester City and three points ahead of Chelsea.
Player composition
Liverpool: Alisson Becker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson; Mohamed Salah, Jordan Henderson, Xherdan Shaqiri, Gerginio Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane; Roberto Firmino.
Southampton: Alex McCarthy; Cedric Soares, Jannik Vestergaard, Wesley Hoedt, Ryan Bertrand; Nathan Redmond, Mario Lemina, Oriol Romeu, Pierre Hojbjerg, Matt Targett; Shane Long.
