{"id":444075,"date":"2025-09-22T20:46:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444075\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T20:46:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:46:10","slug":"liverpool-vs-southampton-league-cup-2025-26-preview-team-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/444075\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool\u00a0vs.\u00a0Southampton: League Cup 2025-26 Preview & Team News"},"content":{"rendered":"

LIVERPOOL VS. SOUTHAMPTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

| Tuesday, September 23rd |
League Cup, Third Round Proper | Anfield
8PM BST\/3PM EST<\/p>\n

This will be one of the harder matches to both predict and preview since Southampton, who have been struggling, have been very heavily rotated on a game-by-game basis. Southampton manager Will Still has said Monday that he\u2019s still deliberating on the \u201cright mix\u201d of players who deserve to have a go against Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Southampton have been struggling this season, winning their first match against Wrexham but going on a run of five league matches without a win (D3 L2). They have managed only one league match without conceding, logging a 0-0 home draw against Portsmouth on September 14th. They\u2019ve had better luck in the League Cup, and have yet to concede in the competition. The Saints beat Northampton away 1-0 back in mid-August before beating a poor Norwich City 3-0 at Carrow Road on August 26th. Liverpool will hope to end this streak of clean sheets for Still\u2019s side.<\/p>\n

Last season Liverpool played Southampton three times (twice in the league and once in the quarter finals of this competition) with the Reds prevailing on all three occasions. Indeed, Liverpool have won the last eight meetings between the two sides, last failing to achieve a victory back in May 2017 in a 0-0.<\/p>\n

This match should also see a sneaky return to Anfield for Adam Lallana, who is now a first team coach at Southampton. He played for the Reds between 2014 and 2020 after leaving Southampton, and retired from football in June of this year.<\/p>\n

Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mamardashvili; Frimpong, Williams, Leoni, Robertson; End\u014d, Jones, Nyoni; Chiesa, Danns, Ngumoha<\/p>\n

Arne Slot confirmed that Liverpool captain Virgil Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konat\u00e9, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Mohamed Salah will not feature on Tuesday, which \u2014 while explicit \u2014 is not entirely unexpected given the business of Liverpool\u2019s schedule. Exactly how many senior players will feature for the Reds is unknown, though we can expect to see vice captain Andy Robertson leading out the side, and Georgian goalkeeper Georgi Mamardashvili is likely to see his first start of the 2025\/26 campaign.<\/p>\n

We would have expected to see Stefan Baj\u010deti\u0107 at the base of the Liverpool midfield, but unfortunately the Spaniard is nursing a hamstring injury and will miss out. Given his absence, we should see Wataru End\u014d play in his familiar defensive midfield role, though the Japanese captain might also be selected as a centerback option depending on the fitness (or willingness to risk the fitness) of Joe Gomez. Regardless of partnership, Italian defender Giovanni Leoni likely to make his debut. Given the defensive experience in the fullbacks, Slot does have wiggle room with his centerback options as the Liverpool head coach looks to manage minutes and give experience.<\/p>\n

Though most of the changes around Gomez\u2019s fitness seem to be in terms of recovery time in training, given Liverpool\u2019s failed move for defensive cover we might well see Rhys Williams, who trained with the first team this weekend, start. Gomez never seems to lack in form when coming in from the cold, so Slot could well weigh Gomez\u2019s experience value against the benefits of treating the player with an abundance of caution.<\/p>\n

Reports from team training tell us that along with Rhys Williams, all of Jayden Danns, Tommy Pilling, Kieran Morrison, and Kaide Gordon all missed the last U21 outing and trained with the first team, so they can be expected to feature. Rio Ngumoha, who has been with the first team this season, will certainly be eying a start as well.<\/p>\n

This should be a chance for those on the first team squad who have mostly featured on the bench this season, or have seen their minutes limited with injury. We can expect a first team player to feature at right fullback, though, with Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley sharing minutes there thus far, and one or the other \u2014 if not both \u2014 might well log some minutes in this one. Indeed, swapping one for the other either at halftime or between 60\u2019 and 70\u2019 might be among the easiest calls for the coach to make.<\/p>\n

Curtis Jones has returned from injury and seems likely to start as an experienced head in midfield \u2014 all the more needed should End\u014d be called to action as part of the back four for some or all of this one. Young Trey Nyoni will want to see his name on the midfield team sheet as well. It\u2019s worth noting that there could be a surprise thrown in along Liverpool\u2019s spine: it would not be completely unreasonable to see the likes of Alexis Mac Allister make an appearance on Tuesday to get some minutes as the midfielder has been suffering somewhat from form, fitness, or a combination of the two. Should that happen, though, he might block young players like Morrison and Pilling from getting minutes, and it\u2019s entirely possible that Slot will opt for an extremely changed side.<\/p>\n

Joining Rio Ngumoha and Jayden Danns up front will likely be Federico Chiesa, who missed out on the initial Champions League squad (though the squad list there is hampered somewhat by specific challenges for homegrown players). It\u2019s entirely possible that Alexander Isak could get some minutes in this one as he re-builds his fitness after missing pre-season.<\/p>\n

Should Liverpool score it will be the 200th goal against Southampton in all competitions, and should Ngumoha find himself on the scoresheet he will accomplish another \u201cyoungest goalscorer for Liverpool in x competition\u201d record.<\/p>\n

Liverpool were runners-up in the competition last season, though the added matches may have harmed the team\u2019s form in crucial stages of the Champions League. Nevertheless, Slot will want to win as many trophies as possible, even if the early stages here are largely an exercise allowing young and squad players to gain top-level minutes.<\/p>\n

The Managers Have Their Say<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arne Slot<\/strong>, who decided against a traditional preview press conference for this one: \u201cLast season we reached the final with these line-ups and there\u2019s no trophy we underestimate, we always want to win every trophy we compete for. That\u2019s the good thing about the quality of the squad we have, that we still have a very good team that we can play tomorrow. But we have to think about the long term as well. If we want to compete in every single trophy then some players need a normal week, which is not playing during the week once in a while as well. That\u2019s managing a team throughout the whole season with trying to compete at every level we are competing for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Still<\/strong>: \u201cThey\u2019re the best team in England, probably one of the best teams in Europe, and we have to go there with the belief that we can play football and that we\u2019re good at doing certain things in our register. We just have to show a bit of personality, a bit of bravery to stand back up, to get back up. I just want us to have a go, to be brave and show a bit of what we\u2019re about, not just go there and fold over and crumple. We need to be strong, we need to be good at what we do. Just go there and have a go\u201d<\/p>\n

Referee<\/strong>: Thomas Bramall Assistant Referees<\/strong>: Simon Bennett & Andrew Dallison Fourth Official<\/strong>: Lewis Smith
Note: There is no VAR at this stage in the competition<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t done so already, we\u2019d love if you signed up for an SB Nation account and join the community at TLO. We\u2019ll bring you and your fellow Liverpool fans from around the world full coverage of every match from the 2025-26 season in the Premier League, Champions League, and domestic cups along getting you breaking news, insight and opinion, tactical discussion, and post-match reactions as the new season plays out. Hopefully you\u2019ll join us for it!<\/p>\n

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