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Peter Byrne
AS IT HAPPENED

As it happened: Liverpool v Southampton, Premier League

Liverpool faced Southampton, as they looked to consolidate their place in the top four.

Hello, and welcome to today’s liveblog.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the game. E-mail paul@the42.ie, tweet @the42_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.

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Kick of is at 1.30pm.

Here are the teams…

Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Matip, Milner, Can, Lucas, Wijnaldum, Coutinho, Firmino, Origi.

Subs: Karius, Moreno, Grujic, Sturridge, Alexander-Arnold, Lallana, Klavan.

Southampton: Forster, Cédric, Yoshida, Stephens, Bertrand, Davis (c), Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Tadić, Boufal, Gabbiadini.

Subs: Hassen, Caceres, Long, Pied, Rodriguez, Hojbjerg, Redmond.

We’re underway…

A cross almost drops to Firmino, but Stephens is alert to clear the danger.

Liverpool have been on the front foot early on.

It’s been a quiet enough start to this game.

Neither side has created a chance yet.

Emre Can tries an ambitious cross-field pass to Clyne, but it goes straight out of play.

There is a slightly subdued, end-of-season feel to this game so far.

Tadic is played through, but he is marginally offside.

That was a good line from the Liverpool defence.

Romeu is dispossessed on the edge of the box by Firmino.

However, Yoshida does well to block the Brazilian’s subsequent shot.

Milner’s cross goes straight into the arms of Fraser Forster.

There’s been plenty of possession and patient build-up play from Liverpool, but little in the way of attacking thrust.

Origi finds himself in a decent position but is penalised for grappling with Yoshida.

That decision prompts loud groans from the Anfield faithful, who are clearly frustrated with the the lack of goalmouth action so far.

Still no real chances of note.

Liverpool could do more from a creative player like Coutinho, who’s been quiet so far.

Firmino evades the challenge of Davis, but his shot is tame and easily saved by Forster.

Liverpool may already be thinking about a change. They’ve offered so little threat going forward so far.

“There’s no width, they’re too narrow all the time, Liverpool.”

Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher is not impressed by what he has seen in this first half.

HALF-TIME: LIVERPOOL 0-0 SOUTHAMPTON

The second half is underway…

Lucas competes for a 50:50 that goes out of play and is subsequently annoyed when the ref awards a goal kick rather than a corner.

No real signs of improvement from the hosts, though Lallana is starting to warm up on the sidelines.

The referee stops play with Romeu picking up an injury following a collision with Matip.

Southampton will hope their midfielder is okay, particularly given that he has been superb for them so far.

As I type, he comes back on and looks like he’s going to be okay.

Liverpool have had 75% possession but they still look incredibly ponderous.

As Carragher is pointing out, the likes of Can and Lucas are taking far too many touches on the ball and consequently, there is a distinct lack of urgency in their play.

PENALTY TO LIVERPOOL!

MILNER’S PENALTY IS SAVED!

It’s a great save from Forster and that’s Milner’s first penalty miss of the season.

The initial decision was a little harsh, as a lofted Lucas ball in ricochets off Cedric Soares’s hand.

There’s been a couple of changes — Long replaces Gabbiadini for Southampton.

Meanwhile, Liverpool make a double change — Sturridge for Origi and Lallana for Lucas.

Southampton make a rare foray into the Liverpool half.

They win two corners in quick succession, though nothing comes of either.

Liverpool break and Coutinho gets the ball on the edge of the box.

His curling strike is straight at Forster, however.

Good play initially from Sturridge.

He takes the ball away from Stephens on the edge of the box, but his toe-poked finish fails to trouble Forster.

As I type, Milner breaks down the left, but Stephens does well to cut out the full-back’s cross.

Sturridge’s snap shot from the edge of the box goes just wide.

Liverpool have looked more lively and threatening since the introduction of the England international.

Grujić replaces Wijnaldum, as Liverpool search desperately for a winner.

Southampton continue to look relatively comfortable though.

Tadic runs through but Mignolet dashes out and uses his hands to stop the attacker taking it round him.

The Liverpool stopper is fortunate the referee does nothing, as he appeared to be just outside the box during that action judging by replays.

Decent save from Forster.

He parries the ball out of playing following a Coutinho header from a Milner cross.

FULL-TIME: LIVERPOOL 0-0 SOUTHAMPTON

Right, that’s all from me for now, but we’ll have more reaction to follow.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

You can read our report of the game here.

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