Harvey Elliott: We knew we had to fight at Southampton – we did it as a team

The No.19 was making his first start of the season following his return from injury and marked the occasion with the Reds’ second goal at St Mary’s on Wednesday night.

Darwin Nunez had earlier put the visitors in front and Arne Slot’s side ensured they will feature in Thursday night’s last four tie despite second-half pressure from Saints that included a goal from Cameron Archer.

On how he would rate a ‘tough’ competition overall, Elliott told Sky Sports after the game: “Just like that, really. They caused us a lot of problems.

“Coming into this game, especially with the circumstances that Southampton are going through, we knew they were going to come out and fight and we had to be ready for that.

“I feel like for the team that we put out there today – some of us haven’t played much this season, we also had some really young guys – we fought as a team and luckily we can come away with the win.”

There were further opportunities at both ends during the second half, including a superb Caoimhin Kelleher save from Archer just moments after the game had gone to 2-1.

“I wouldn’t say surprised, to be honest, because if you look at the Premier League game, they caused us problems as well,” Elliott added of the hosts’ response.

“Southampton are a team full of confidence and they are not afraid to play from the back and take risks. Credit to them, as I said, they gave us problems today and they have before.

“But it was just about how we could deal with the problems as a team and the pressure they put on to make sure we stand strong and defend as well as we can.

“Despite conceding a goal, I felt we did very well.”