Arne Slot drops selection hint in Southampton programme notes

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Liverpool kick off their Carabao Cup campaign this evening, hosting Championship side Southampton in the third round

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Southampton come into the match after a 3-0 victory over Norwich City in the previous round, having also beaten Northampton Town 1-0 to reach this stage.

Liverpool have dominated recent home meetings against the Saints, winning each of the last eight encounters at Anfield across all competitions, with the last draw being a goalless tie back in May 2017.

The Reds will no doubt Carabao Cup for a record-extending 11th time, having already featured in 15 finals.

Adding an interesting subplot to the match, former Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana returns to Anfield in his new role as Southampton’s first-team coach.

Meanwhile, the Liverpool boss has dropped a big selection hint ahead of tonight’s game.

Writing in his Southampton programme notes, Arne Slot explained that the Merseyside derby win felt so good because of the schedule last week – and added that as a result plenty of changes to the starting XI can be expected as a result:

“This victory gave me a great deal of pleasure, not only because it came in a derby, but mainly because it followed a demanding schedule of Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday fixtures.

Inevitably, our energy levels weren’t the same at the end of such a testing week as they were at the start.

“Another impact of the schedule is that we will certainly be making a number of changes for tonight’s fixture?

At the time of writing, it is too early to say how many, but whatever the number, we will select a starting line-up that is more than ready to play against Southampton – a team we know well, having faced them three times last season.

Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah have all been ruled out, opening the door for promising youngsters and fringe players to stake their claim.

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