Southampton vs Liverpool: Premier League preview, team news, stats & head-to-head – BBC Sport

Southampton have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool (D3 L10), a 1-0 home win in January 2021.

Liverpool’s last Premier League game against Southampton was a 4-4 away draw in May 2023 – they conceded as many goals in that game as they had in their previous six visits to St Mary’s combined.

This will be the first Premier League match between the team that starts the day at the bottom of the table and the team that starts the day at the top since April 2023 and Southampton drew 3-3 away to Arsenal. The league leaders are unbeaten in 14 such games (W12 D2) since Wolves won 2-1 against Manchester United in February 2011.

Southampton have lost just one of their last eight Premier League home games against teams that started at the top of the table (W2 D5) and are unbeaten in their last four (W2 D2 – including a 1-0 win over Liverpool in January 2021) since a 0-1 defeat to Manchester City in May 2018.

Liverpool have won nine of their 11 Premier League games under new manager Arne Slot (D1 L1). A win over Southampton will see the Dutchman become the joint-fastest manager to reach 10 wins from the start of a Premier League career (12 games), alongside Guus Hiddink in May 2009 and Carlo Ancelotti in November 2009 (both with Chelsea).

Only Manchester City average more passes/game (642) and a higher passing accuracy (91%) than Southampton (543, 89%) in the Premier League this season. But just 22% of the Saints’ passes have finished in the final third, a league-low ratio.

Southampton have lost nine of their 11 Premier League games this season (W1 D1). Only seven teams in the history of the English top flight have reached 10 defeats in 12 or fewer games from the start of a campaign, with all seven going on to be relegated.

Southampton are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season (7), while only Crystal Palace (5.1%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Saints (6.2%). Just 30.1% of Southampton’s shots have been on target this term (34/113), a league-low ratio.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has both scored and assisted in the same match 35 times in the Premier League (including four already this term), just one short of Wayne Rooney’s record of 36 matches with both a goal and an assist in the competition. The Egyptian has been directly involved in 11 goals (7 goals, 4 assists) in 11 Premier League games against Southampton.

Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in 67% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals this season (14/21 – 8 goals, 6 assists), the highest ratio for a player of any team in the division in 2024-25. In fact, only Matt Le Tissier for Southampton in 1993-94 (69% – 34/49) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of a team’s goals in a single season in the competition.