Premier League
Result: Southampton 1-0 Liverpool
Date: 04 January 2020
Venue: St Mary's Stadium
Premier League leaders Liverpool endured a frustrating evening after falling to a 1-0 defeat to Southampton on Monday night.
With the Reds still without Joel Matip, captain Jordan Henderson joined Fabinho in central defence while Thiago Alcantara. Meanwhile, 17-year-old South African midfielder Kgagelo Chauke was named on the Saints' bench for the first time.
The visitors got off to a poor start when former Reds striker Danny Ings caught the defence napping from James Ward-Prowse's free-kick to lob Alisson Becker after just two minutes.
Jurgen Klopp's men dominated possession thereafter, with Thiago pulling the strings, but struggled to carve out clear-cut openings in the 18-yard area.
Mohamed Salah did go close to pulling the Reds level before the break but he failed to steer his header on target as the visitors failed to register a single effort on target in the opening 45 minutes.
Jack Stephens came to Southampton's rescue on 57 minutes after popping with a vital block in the six-yard box to deny Sadio Mane.
With the Reds struggling to breakthrough the Saints defence, Xherdan Shaqiri made a rare appearance after replacing the in-effective Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain for the final 30 minutes.
The Reds threw everything forward in search of an equaliser, with Mane sending a header over the crossbar in the final minute as the Saints held on for the win.
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