Liverpool lineup vs Southampton: Early team news hints at SURPRISE Mo Salah call

We appear to have gotten a surprise bit of early team news as Liverpool prepare to take on Southampton at Anfield.

Liverpool can go 16 points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturday - at least temporarily. Arsenal will eventually get their games in hand done, starting with Manchester United on Sunday.

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But the Reds can send one hell of a message and provide Mikel Arteta's side with a mountain to climb. Liverpool are overwhelming favourites to do so up against the Premier League's bottom team.

Southampton have had a torrid campaign, picking up a meagre nine points from 27 games. They've only scored 19 times in that span.

They're essentially nailed on to get relegated and this will almost certainly be the final top vs bottom clash of the season. Both teams, after all, would require dramatic turnarounds to see their final positions change.

But Liverpool do have a bit of a problem - or at least, Arne Slot does. He's got to manage his squad's fitness against Southampton, fresh off a gruelling night in Paris.

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Liverpool did eventually beat Paris Saint-Germain in their UEFA Champions League clash but it took everything they had (and then a bit more from Alisson). They'll need to do the same on Tuesday, too, in the return leg.

So Slot needs to make sure players are both fit enough to beat Southampton but also prepared to face PSG at Anfield. It's not an easy task for the Dutchman.

An early team news hint

This hint comes from Diogo Jota's Fantasy Football team. The forward has made a couple of moves ahead of Liverpool vs Southampton.

Firstly, Mo Salah is his captain. That would suggest right away that the Egyptian is starting against Southampton - something of a surprise.

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Salah had a tough night against PSG and was actually brought off slightly early. A rest ahead of the second leg would make sense to us but it does appear he'll start later today.

Jota's also thrown Kostas Tsimikas into his team. Now, that's certainly no surprise and it suggests the Greek left-back will replace Andy Robertson.

There's not a lot else to go on here but those would be two notable calls by Slot. Let's see what actually happens in the coming hours.

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