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Southampton host Liverpool on Friday for yet another challenging clash and one that means a lot more to the fans than those less familiar with the history between the two clubs will realise.
The Reds are infamous for repeatedly returning to the south coast in the summer, but not for a beach day – they have swiped Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana and Virgil van Dijk, to name just a few, from Saints in recent years.
The reception for the aforementioned trio, as BBC Sport pundit Mark Lawrenson predicts, will be undoubtedly frosty, and the former Liverpool man has indicated that the south coast outfit will break the mould set by the Premier League outfits before them this weekend:
“I wonder what kind of reception Liverpool’s former Southampton players – Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana will get at St Mary’s? I don’t think they will get a very warm welcome, let’s put it that way.
“What might help the Reds is that I cannot see Southampton sitting back and playing for a draw. I think Hasenhuttl will want to have a bit of a go and that will open things up a bit.
“We definitely won’t see Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp resting players before their Champions League quarter-final first leg against FC Porto on Tuesday.”
Indeed, Ralph Hasenhuttl has rebranded Southampton since being appointed in place of Mark Hughes in December – the Austrian has brought more tactical, attacking football to a team who were relegation candidates when he arrived, but now look likely to evade the drop.
The likes of Yan Valery and James Ward-Prowse have flourished under the new boss, whose side show no fear regardless of who they are playing against – something evident in their near upset at Old Trafford and then their victory over Spurs soon after.
A Southampton fan shares his most gutting moment of the last 10 years supporting the Saints in the video below…
Lawrenson, though, thinks this approach could be their downfall against a side who are renowned for pressing high and attacking with pace.
What do you think, Southampton fans? Is this a game in which Hasenhuttl can’t afford to play the way he would like and instead sit back in numbers, as many others teams have done before them? Or is there nothing to be lost from a Saints point of view? Let us know in the comments below…