Key events
Half-time entertainment. A reminder of better days for Saints fans. There’s an argument which names this as the best First Division / Premier League goal of all time.
HALF TIME: Southampton 0-2 Liverpool
Liverpool’s experimental team are good value for their two-goal lead. Saints can take succour in a two-goal half-time deficit being a whole lot better than five. Baby steps.
45 min: … Manning sticks it into the six-yard mixer. Kelleher punches clear under pressure from Archer, and wins a free kick to boot. There will be one minute of additional first-half time.
44 min: Archer, coming in from the left, slips a pass towards Dibling on the right. Dibling prepares to advance but Gomez takes the ball off his toe at the expense of a throw. But from that throw, Bree makes good along the flank and wins a corner off Endo. From which …
43 min: Quansah tries to release Gakpo down the left with an ambitious crossfield pass, but overcooks it. The ball disappears into the stand behind.
42 min: This is better from Saints, though, as Fernandes bursts down the left on the overlap, reaches the byline, and dinks into the mixer. Bree races in, hoping to connect, but only succeeds in running slap-bang into Gomez. Kelleher ushers the cross away from danger.
40 min: Liverpool are stroking it around with great confidence. Saints struggling to retain any sort of possession. Dibling tries his best to get something going down the right but Endo and Gomez make sure he meanders out of play.
38 min: Morton busies himself down the left and earns a corner. Mac Allister aims for Nunez at the near post. Nunez attempts a backward header that doesn’t come off. Saints clear their lines.
36 min: Alexander-Arnold swishes a low pass in from the right, picking out Mac Allister on the edge of the Saints D. Mac Allister hits a first-time pass of his own, opening his body and sidefooting towards the bottom right. It’s heading in, so McCarthy does well to turn it around the post. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
34 min: Elliott’s shot took a little nick off Manning’s boot, ensuring it evaded the spreading McCarthy and nestled into the corner. The finish a bit fortunate, but the move, instigated by Gakpo, was delightful.
GOAL! Southampton 0-2 Liverpool (Elliott 32)
Elliott doesn’t have to wait long for another chance. Some lovely Liverpool passing. Gakpo comes in from the left and one-twos with Morton before teeing up Elliott, who lashes a low shot into the bottom left.
31 min: Nyoni rolls a fine pass down the inside-left channel for Gakpo, who should enter the box and take a shot, but lets the ball snag between his feet. His resulting low cross for Elliott is no good, and a big chance for Liverpool to at least test McCarthy is gone.
30 min: The Liverpool fans in fine voice as their team take complete control of the game, probing away in search of a second. In the meantime, here’s Richard Hirst: “I’m a neutral in the game and regarding Russell Martin (though since Fulham are playing Southampton at the weekend I rather wish he was still in place). But to my mind it’s simple: play it out = Liverpool get possession 20 yards from goal, result misery; hoof it clear = Liverpool get possession 50 yards from goal, result delayed misery. So it all depends on whether you like immediate pain or anticipatory pain.”
28 min: That goal came at an unfortunate time for Southampton, who were slowly establishing a foothold in the match. But now they’re on the back foot again, perhaps mindful that they shipped goals in batches against Spurs on Sunday evening.
26 min: That was a wild swipe by Bednarek. But he had to try something, because Alexander-Arnold’s pass was going to release Nunez anyway. A sublime wriggle by Alexander-Arnold as well, to waltz his way through the Southampton press. And a calm finish by Nunez as well, which isn’t always his MO.
GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Liverpool (Nunez 24)
Alexander-Arnold elegantly sashays his way out a Saints pincer movement and pings a long pass down the middle. Bednarek should intercept, but slices the ball backwards, allowing Nunez to scamper clear down the middle. He takes a careful touch to bring the ball down, and slots across McCarthy and into the bottom right.
22 min: Saints are slowly edging their way into this game. The hosts with a little bit more possession in the middle of the park.
20 min: Fernandes slips Dibling into space down the inside-right channel. The Saints starlet enters the box, opens his body, and … scuffs a weak shot straight at Kelleher, who will be glad of the handling practice in these wild conditions. A decent chance for the hosts.
19 min: Nyoni snaffles possession in midfield, and sends Nunez scampering away down the inside-left channel. He enters the box and shapes to shoot, only to be denied by an aquaplaning Bednarek. Brilliantly timed slide tackle.
17 min: Another McCarthy hoof. More cheers all round. But Liverpool regain possession immediately. Russell Martin’s argument, right there. On the other hand, Saints were 3-0 down by this point last weekend, so there are two sides to this one.
15 min: Nunez, on the edge of the Saints D, looks for the top-right corner of the goal. He finds the top-right corner of the stand. Liverpool want a free kick, Mac Allister prevented from making a run into the box by Wood’s block. But they’re not getting one.
14 min: Gakpo shimmies in from the left and looks for Mac Allister, in space just inside the box. A pinpoint cross and Saints are in trouble. The cross isn’t pinpoint. Out for a goal kick it goes. Saints go up the other end, where Archer and Fernandes make nuisances of themselves on the edge of the Liverpool box. Quansah deals with the danger.
12 min: The Liverpool forwards press McCarthy. The keeper whacks clear, safety first. Cheers from the home support. Not wholly ironic, I’ll be bound.
11 min: Mac Allister hits the corner over everyone’s head. One dismal set piece each, then.
10 min: Gakpo probes down the left and wins the first corner of the evening off Bree. Mac Allister trots across to take it.
8 min: Harwood-Bellis rakes a fine long pass down the inside-right channel for Bree to hare after. Bree’s clear of the Liverpool back line, but he’s gone a fraction too early, and the flag quickly pops up for offside. It was close, but there’s no VAR, so the officials won’t be playing as fast and loose as they normally do in the Premier League.
7 min: Liverpool are dominating the early possession. Some relief for Southampton as Alexander-Arnold blooters a long crossfield pass out for a throw.
5 min: The rain is coming down in sheets now. A good evening for slick passing, if nothing else. Nyoni curls a cross in from the left but it’s headed clear by Harwood-Bellis.
3 min: Nyoni gets a few touches as he gamely attempts to get something going down the left. A nerve-settler for the young man on his first senior start, if nothing else.
1 min: A long ball pumped down the left flank. Quansah barges Archer to the ground near the corner flag. A very early chance for Southampton to test the makeshift Liverpool defence … but Manning inexplicably skies the free kick over everyone’s head and it’s an easy mop-up job for the visitors.
Southampton get the ball rolling. The rain is almost horizontal. Arne Slot, serving a touchline ban tonight after picking up his third yellow of the season against Fulham, may be happy to be safe and snug towards the back of the stand.
The teams are out! Southampton in red and white, Liverpool in black with aqua trim. Alex McCarthy and Trent Alexander-Arnold tonight’s captains. It’s wet and windy down Solent way. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot talks to Sky. “The players who have played many, many, many minutes are not even with us … the players who have played a lot of minutes will not play the whole game today … the ones who haven’t played that much, it’s an ideal moment for them to play 90 … it’s easier for [Tyler Morton and Trey Nyoni] if they can come in with ten other starters because the connection with the team is perfect … now there are a few different players … they know what to do but they will face a strong Southampton team … we knew how difficult it was two or three weeks ago when we played our starters … it is going to be a challenge but it’s a quarter-final so you expect a challenge.”
Saints interim manager Simon Rusk speaks to Sky Sports. “Obviously a quick turnaround from Sunday … a little bit of time to get organised on the grass … get to know the guys … we’re confident we’re where we need to be … the best we can … we look forward to it … there have been things in games that have been excellent, so we try to retain that … but of course we want to be hard to beat … make sure we have solidity to our game … if we get the balance right we’ll have enough to cause problems … it’s a great competition … it’s an opportunity for us to make it a catalyst for the season.”
Here’s a reminder of exactly what happened when these two teams clubs met last month …
… and here’s how things went down the last time they met in the League Cup, back in the 2017 semis. Features an outrageous 54th-minute Fraser Forster save from, er, Fraser Forster.
Saints make three changes in the wake of the Spurs debacle. James Bree, Nathan Wood and Cameron Archer are in, replacing the absent trio of Kyle Walker-Peters, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Adam Armstrong.
Liverpool make eight changes after their draw with Fulham. In come Caoimhín Kelleher, Wataru Endō, Jarell Quansah, Tyler Morton, Alexis Mac Allister, Harvey Elliott, Darwin Núñez and, making his first start for the club, the exciting 17-year-old midfield prospect Trey Nyoni. They replace Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah, who have all stayed at home.
The teams
Southampton: McCarthy, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Wood, Bree, Downes, Fernandes, Aribo, Manning, Dibling, Archer.
Subs: Lumley, Edwards, Sugawara, Lallana, Fraser, Amo-Ameyaw, Onuachu, Sulemana, Brereton Diaz.
Liverpool: Kelleher, Quansah, Gomez, Endo, Alexander-Arnold, Morton, Mac Allister, Nyoni, Elliott, Gakpo, Nunez.
Subs: Jaros, Chiesa, Jota, Tsimikas, McConnell, Nallo, Norris, Danns, Ngumoha.
Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
Preamble
It’s hard to know what to expect here tonight. Southampton are coming off the back of their clown-shoe special against Spurs, and have just sacked their manager; high-flying Liverpool dropped precious Premier League points at home to Fulham at the weekend, but still received plenty of praise for their ten-man moxie. On the other hand, Saints gave Liverpool a good run for their money here in the league last month, and the previous time this fixture was played, it ended in a 4-4 draw. Throw in any number of potential League Cup changes by both teams, plus the fact there’s a semi-final appearance on the line, and good luck predicting what will happen here. Straight to penalties if there’s no winner in regulation time, remember. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
