Liverpool lose at Southampton 1-0 to increase blip in EPL

Southampton supervisor Ralph Hasenhuttl slumped to the bottom, pulled down the invoice of his cap, and wept after one other massive win for his group within the English Premier League.
On the receiving finish this time was Liverpool, which additionally seems to be on its knees in what’s shaping as much as be essentially the most open title races in years.
Danny Ings, a former Liverpool participant, scored within the second minute to steer Southampton to a 1-0 win over the defending champions at an empty St. Mary’s Stadium on Monday.
Liverpool has gone three video games and not using a win — after back-to-back attracts towards West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle — and leads on solely objective distinction from nice rival Manchester United, which has performed one recreation fewer.
United isn’t the one group in putting distance of the lead approaching the midway level of the league. Four factors separate Liverpool from seventh-place Everton, with Tenth-place West Ham solely seven factors off the lead in what was all the time going to be a disjointed season amid the pandemic.
Southampton’s Danny Ings, proper, celebrates after scoring his group’s first objective in the course of the English Premier League match between Southampton and Liverpool at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton, England, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. (AP)
Southampton is within the combine, too, its newest win lifting Hasenhuttl’s group to sixth place in a season when it has been prime — albeit briefly — for the primary time since 1988. It all proved an excessive amount of on the last whistle for the emotional Hasenhuttl, whose group was closely depleted for the sport.
“When you see our guys fighting with everything they have, it makes me really proud,” the Austrian coach stated. “You have to have the proper recreation towards Liverpool and I feel we did have that.
“It was an intense game, my voice is nearly gone. The guys are tired — you have to be to win against such a team. The guys believed in what they were doing.”
Few may have foreseen this sudden drop-off by Liverpool, which has failed to attain in successive video games for less than the second time in Jurgen Klopp’s five-year tenure.
Indeed, such has been Liverpool’s lack of slicing fringe of late that Klopp’s group has managed simply seven photographs on track up to now three video games. In the sport earlier than that, Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 7-0 away.

“Our decision-making was just not good,” Klopp stated. “That is how it is when you don’t have momentum. We should have had much more chances.”
Southampton was lacking the backbone of its group, with first-choice goalkeeper Alex McCarthy (coronavirus), central midfielder Oriol Romeu (hamstring) and striker Che Adams (concussion) becoming a member of big heart again Jannik Vestergaard on the harm listing.
But the Saints nonetheless had Ings, who latched onto a free kick by set-piece specialist James Ward-Prowse and lifted a bouncing ball over goalkeeper Alisson Becker and into the far nook.
“We all know how good Prowsey is on set-pieces, and all the parts came together and luckily I got the goal,” stated Ings, who had an injury-plagued spell at Liverpool from 2015-18. “We had a chat before the game to see if there was a moment where we could get in quickly and luckily it paid off.”
It was assault vs. protection from then on however Southampton held agency, with heart backs Jack Stephens and Jan Bednarek, specifically, excellent.
“You know exactly what you are going to get from them,” Klopp stated of Southampton. “You can’t be stunned however we appeared stunned.
“At the beginning how we played, where we lost the balls, it’s not rocket science. We should have done much better. We played into their hands with the start.”