Preview: Southampton vs. Liverpool

Draw specialists Liverpool look to get back on the winning
track.

Southampton vs Liverpool

| Monday, January 4th |Premier League | St Mary’s8PM BST /3PM
EST

After a couple of lackluster draws allowing the chasing pack to
catch up, Liverpool finish up their holiday programme with a trip
to St Mary’s and a Southampton side that has also struggled to win games
in recent weeks.

After a tremendous start to the season that saw them in the
Champions League spots on 23 point after 12
games, things have begun to slow down for the Saints, who have only
managed three points from the last four, drawing with Arsenal,
Fulham and West Ham, while losing to Manchester
City.

That won’t affect Ralph Hassenhüttl’s approach, though, and
Liverpool must be prepared for a fearless, aggressive
counterpressing side that will no doubt be looking to pounce on
what has recently looked a lethargic Liverpool that can be got at
by a sufficiently relentless opponent.

Defensive lynchpin Jannik Vestergaard missed out through injury,
while Nathan Redmond is doubtful. Former Red and top scorer Danny
Ings should be back in the lineup alongside Che Adams.

Projected Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, Fabinho, Robertson;
Henderson, Thiago, Wijnaldum; Mané, Firmino, Salah

With Joël Matip still sidelined, Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips
are on contention to start next to Fabinho in the centre of
defence, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson should
both be in the XI, given that the next match requiring serious
intent is a full two weeks away.

For the first time all year, Jürgen Klopp can call on almost his
entire midfield, as only Naby Keïta misses out through injury, and
all of Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Alex
Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones and Thiago are available. Given
the likely nature of the game, ball security is likely to be
favoured in place of creativity.

Up top, the trio of Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed
Salah will look to rediscover their form from the Crystal Palace
match two weeks ago, banishing the finishing slump that has plagued
their most recent outings.

What the Managers Said

Jürgen Klopp: “”

Ralph Hassenhüttl: “”

The Officials

Referee: Andre MarrinerAssistant
referees: Scott Ledger, Simon LongFourth
official: Stuart AttwellVAR: Andy Madley,
Stephen Child

Kickoff is set for 8PM GMT/3PM EST tomorrow, and television
listings for the match can be found on LiveSoccerTV.

In the meantime, and as always, we’ll be keeping you updated
with all the buildup to the game, including team news as it’s
released, our live matchday thread, and post-match recaps from The
Liverpool Offside staff. If you want to join the discussion, sign
up for an SB Nation account to have your say on the action as it
happens.

The Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), described the attack by the
Presidency against the party as a feeble kick of a weak horse and a
failed attempt to beguile Nigerians.

Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu had in an essay on Sunday
likened the PDP to a “university of lies,” which Nigerians are not
interested in bringing back in 2023.

Reacting to the development, PDP national publicity secretary,
Kola Ologbondiyan in a statement said the main opposition party “is
not surprised that the Buhari Presidency is rattled by the bitter
truth that Nigerians are fed up with President Muhammadu Buhari as
well as his All Progressives Congress, APC, and are rallying on our
platform to rescue our nation from misrule.”

The statement read in part: “It is indeed pathetic that the
Buhari Presidency thinks that it can beguile Nigerians again after
all they got from it in almost six years are failed promises, a
wrecked economy, weak currency, excruciating poverty, surging
unemployment, unbridled treasury looting, patronizing of bandits,
terrorists and kidnappers, double economic recession and a rapid
decline to the horrible status of a failed state.

“Under President Buhari, all security, economic, and social
indicators have gone negative. It, therefore, amounts to a slap on
the sensibility of Nigerians for the Buhari Presidency to attempt
to compare the once thriving lives of Nigerians under the PDP, to
the sorry state of affairs in our country, which has become a
terrorist haven and world poverty capital in a space of six
years.

“What can the Buhari Presidency say to the fact that when
President Buhari took over power in 2015, our economy was rated one
of the fastest-growing in the world with Fitch’s B+ rating, only
for his administration to wreck it within six years, turned our
country into a beggar nation that is now borrowing from all parts
of the world?

“When President Buhari took over from the PDP, our naira was at
N160 to a dollar. Today under the incompetent and corrupt
administration of APC and Buhari, our naira has fallen to almost
N500 to a dollar, wrecking our national purchasing power and making
Nigeria an object of jest among the comity of nations.

“Why won’t Nigerians be fed up with the Buhari Presidency when
under its watch, more than 30 million businesses have collapsed,
while over 60 million Nigerians have lost their means of livelihood
due to obnoxious economic policies that scare away both domestic
and foreign investors?

“Why won’t Nigerians be fed up with the Buhari Presidency when
under its voodoo economy, a liter of fuel, which sold for N87 per
litre under the PDP, now sells as high as N170 to N200 under the
Buhari and APC’s Eldorado economy?”

The PDP further stated that under the watch of President Buhari,
“staple food has gone beyond the reach of the majority of Nigerians
so much so that a bag of rice which sold for about N10, 000 now
sells for N30,000; that a measure of garri which sold for N100 now
sells for N350 to N400 and a litre of palm oil which sold for N200
now sells for up to N600? The list is endless.”

The statement continued: “Under Buhari’s watch, most families
cannot afford basic necessities of life; parents cannot pay their
children’s school fees, abandoned projects litter the nation;
hunger and starvation, divorces, broken families, strange disease
and sudden death have become so prevalent that compatriots prefer
suicide and slavery mission as options.

“Is it not distressing that terrorists that have been pushed to
the fringes by the PDP administration have resurged and now being
patronized by government officials as they ravage our communities
and behead our citizens?

“Today, not only that corruption has increased in our nation
under President Buhari as reported by reputable organizations like
Transparency International, Nigeria now ranks as the third country
with the highest level of terrorism in 2019, after Iran and
Afghanistan.

“Indeed, the situation is so bad that even Mr. President could
not summon the courage to honour an invitation by the House of
Representatives to give an account of how his administration has
managed the affairs of our nation.

“Why won’t Nigerians crave for the return of the PDP, a party
whose administration paid our foreign debts, grew the economy,
revolutionized the telecommunication, aviation, power, agriculture
and banking sectors among others, and gave life meaning in
Nigeria.

“The only achievement by the Buhari Presidency is stagnating the
economy, mortgaging of our sovereignty through the accumulation of
foreign debt, increase in taxes and tariffs, reneging in all its
promises, and making life unbearable for the people.

“As a party, the PDP challenges the Buhari Presidency to search
its conscience, reflect on the devastations it has brought on our
nation and accept that life is better under the PDP.”