Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images

Liverpool return from the international break to play against Southampton in the Premier League.

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SOUTHAMPTON VS. LIVERPOOL

| Sunday, November 24th |
Premier League | St. Mary’s Stadium
2PM GMT/9AM EST

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The fall international breaks have officially come to a close. All players have returned to their clubs, and the Premier League is ready to resume. As we head into this weekend, the Reds are up five points over Manchester City. City play against Spurs in the late game on Saturday, so depending on the outcome, Liverpool’s lead may only be two points when they travel to St. Mary’s Stadium to take on bottom-dwellers Southampton.

A 24-point divide separates the two teams after 11 league games so far this season. However, matches following the international break are always a bit finicky, so a victory is not guaranteed for Arne Slot and his players.

Liverpool are on a four game winning streak in all competitions, and they’ve only lost one match this season, which was the fluke 1-0 loss against Nottingham Forest.

Sunday’s match will have to be played without both goalkeeper Alisson Becker and right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who limped off the pitch against Aston Villa. He withdrew from the England team for November, but is still not ready to train with the team. In Caoimhín Kelleher and Conor Bradley there are two capable substitutes in the back who should be up to the task of holding off the Saints. The good news is that Virgil van Dijk, who returned from international duty early, is said to be available.

Southampton, though currently at the bottom, have started seeing some more positive results. They won two of their last three games in all competitions, including a shocking (yet greatly satisfying) 1-0 victory against Everton in the league and a 2-0 defeat of Championship outfit Stoke City in the League Cup.

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Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-2-3-1)

Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Jones, Gakpo; Nunez

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As mentioned, Alisson and Alexander-Arnold will both be missing. Also out is Diogo Jota, due to an abdominal issue, and unlucky new guy Federico Chiesa.

In the Saints’ defense, Aaron Ramsdale and Jan Bednarek are both missing. Including in this list are the long-term substitutes of Gavin Bazunu and Ross Stewart.

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What the Managers Had to Say

Arne Slot: ‘’I would say [Southampton are] much more than a capable team. I’ve seen them already playing against City and Arsenal and against Wolves. Those are the three games I’ve seen already and with two more days coming up I will probably see one or two more. They’ve shown that they are very, very capable of playing teams like us. I think it was against [Manchester] United where they had a penalty first, so they’ve been in my opinion a bit unlucky. The playing style has been excellent and they’ve been in almost every game. ”

Russell Martin: “When you go into a club that’s built on something for so long with top players that have bought into that, he hasn’t changed too much. It’s the best management at that point to continue some of the brilliant things they were good at, and put his own spin on it, which he has done.”

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The Officials

Referee: Sam Barrott. Assistants: Lee Betts, Wade Smith. Fourth official: Darren England. VAR: Michael Oliver. Assistant VAR: Mat Wilkes.

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