Southampton vs Liverpool prediction: Gakpo to lead Reds procession

Southampton start life after Russell Martin on Wednesday and it couldn’t be much tougher, as they host Liverpool in the League Cup, at St Mary’s (8pm, Sky Sports Football).

Martin was sacked following Sunday’s 5-0 defeat at home to Tottenham Hotspur and under-21s manager Simon Rusk will take interim charge for the visit of Liverpool.

It will be interesting to see whether he makes too many changes or whether the change will see an immediate upturn in fortunes, against other teams we might say yes but they will have to be at their very best and Liverpool have an off night if the Saints are to reach the semi-finals.

Liverpool go into the game unbeaten in the last 19 games in all competitions, but they did draw Saturday’s game with Fulham, when they twice came from behind to draw 2-2, despite playing more than 70 minutes with 10 men when Andy Robertson was sent off.

Liverpool have won the competition in two of the last three years and their final win over Chelsea in February was the last silverware won by former boss Jurgen Klopp.

For Arne Slot, the competition is the first opportunity to win silverware, but he will hope that by the time the final comes around he is still in with a chance of winning three other trophies.

Betting sites have Liverpool second favourite to win the competition, just behind the favourites Arsenal at 11/4 while you can get 40/1 on Southampton to be celebrating in March.

When the two sides met in the league a few weeks ago, Liverpool were made to work for the points, coming from 2-1 down to eventually win 3-2.

Dominik Szoboszlai gave the visitors the lead at St Mary’s before goals from Adam Armstrong and Mateus Fernandes turned the game on its head early in the second half.

Mohamed Salah then sprung to life, equalising on 65 minutes before scoring from the penalty spot with seven minutes to go.

Football betting sites have Liverpool as favourites for the tie at 1/2, and you can get 6/1 on Southampton and a draw at 17/4.

Since the sides last met, the Reds have beaten Manchester City and Real Madrid, while the Saints have drawn with Brighton and lost the other three matches conceding 12 and scoring just two.

Following Sunday’s defeat by Spurs, which saw the away side 5-0 up at the break confidence will be low in the Southampton squad and just changing the man in charge is unlikely to give them enough to get past Liverpool.

The Reds have scored 52 goals in all competitions and only failed to score on one occasion, when they were beaten at home to Nottingham Forest in September, and with Saints having conceded 42 in all competitions this one could be one-way traffic. One potential issue to note is Slot will not be on the touchline, having been given a one-game ban for collecting yellow cards.

Southampton vs Liverpool prediction 1: Liverpool to win by two goals - 7/2 Bet365

Cody Gakpo is currently the competition’s leading goalscorer with four from his two appearances so far. He scored twice in the 5-1 win over West Ham and two more in the 3-2 win over Brighton. In total he has nine for the season which is only seven less than he scored in the whole of last term.

Betting apps are offering 6/1 on him scoring first or last, 11/5 on him scoring anytime or you can get 17/2 on scoring two or more.

These bets are always a bit more risky as there is no predicting what type of side Slot will name but he does always have his big guns on the bench.

Southampton vs Liverpool prediction 2: Gakpo to score anytime - 11/5 Unibet

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