The business of predicting scorelines can feel like the devil’s work, particularly in a top-flight as competitive as the Premier League.
Liverpool are set to take on Southampton in their return to competitive club action on Sunday after having entered the November international break top of the league table.
The Merseysiders lead incumbent champions Manchester City by five points and fellow challengers Arsenal by nine points.
Gary Neville changes his mind about Liverpool
Gary Neville’s initial call of a 1-1 draw between Liverpool and Southampton, even allowing for a surprise or two this weekend, seemed a particularly bold suggestion.
As one might expect, it inspired horror from the Englishman’s fellow co-hosts on The Overlap.
“We’ll go 1-1,” the MNF pundit and Paul Scholes called the score.
“Really? Hang on. Hang on, wait a minute. Liverpool are top – are you crazy? Why am I telling you lot? Why am I helping you? Jesus Christ,” Ian Wright challenged the prediction.
The former pair then opted to change their predicted score to a 2-1 win for Liverpool away on the South Coast.
Perhaps the 49-year-old is still reeling from Opta’s title probability calculator, which currently hands Liverpool the biggest chance of lifting the trophy at the end of the 2024/25 season!
Predicting Southampton v Liverpool
There’s no question that Russell Martin’s men will be desperate to get some points on the board for gameweek 12 having only picked up one win and a draw from the prior 11 league fixtures.
Whilst we appreciate our post-international break performances often leave something to be desired, it seems hopeful more than anything else on the part of our rivals to expect a repeat of the blip that enabled Nottingham Forest to secure Liverpool’s sole defeat of the season.
We’ll have surely also been emboldened by the presence of returning stars to the fold from the treatment room – including Harvey Elliott. Likewise, it would seem that Alisson Becker is not too far off a full return to team training and, eventually, the Anfield turf.
However, a trip to Southampton may come too soon for our Brazilian No.1!
Predicted scoreline: Southampton 0 – 2 Liverpool
Predicted XI: Kelleher, Robertson, Van Dijk, Konate, Alexander-Arnold, Gravenberch, Jones, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Diaz, Salah
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