Liverpool 3-0 Southampton: Premier League highlights and recap

Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, Sept. 22. Here are all the highlights from the match.

Liverpool made it six wins out of six to start the Premier League season on Saturday, beating Southampton 3-0 at Anfield to move three points clear at the top of the table. The Reds weren’t at their best, but they didn’t have to be against a poor Saints side.

Liverpool took the lead within 10 minutes, courtesy of an own goal from Wesley Hoedt. The goal was the result of good work from Xherdan Shaqiri, making his first start for the club as the number 10 in a 4-2-3-1.

The formation, with Mohamed Salah playing as a central striker and Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane out wide, was perhaps the most interesting feature of the game, which is indicative of the overall quality of play.

The Reds doubled their lead in the 21st minute, Joel Matip heading in from a corner, and made it three on the stroke of halftime. Shaqiri played a big role again, curling a free-kick off the bar, which Salah tapped in.

The match was effectively won in the first half, and the second 45 minutes was predictably flat. The only notable news came on the injury front, as Virgil van Dijk was forced off with what appeared to be an injury to his midriff.

Joe Gomez was excellent when he replaced van Dijk, but Jurgen Klopp will be desperate to have the Dutch center-back fit with two games coming against Chelsea in the next week, before matches against Napoli and Manchester City.

As for Southampton, they won’t have expected much from this match, but the performance was disappointing all the same. How bad was it? It took them until second half stoppage time to record their first shot on target.

Highlights

Liverpool play Chelsea next week, while Southampton travel to face Wolves.