Southampton 0-3 Liverpool: 3 things we learned - Reds are title contenders

Liverpool ultimately ran out 3-0 winners against a spirited Southampton side at St. Mary’s as Luis Suarez scored one and created two goals. Here are three things we learned from the game.

Luis Suarez is unstoppable

Luis Suarez

Goal droughts be damned. There is no way to stop the Uruguayan goal machine this season. One goal in his last seven appearances may have raised a few wisps of doubt over his goal scoring form but today’s performance blew away all of them to make one thing clear- the only man who can stop Suarez is himself.

What he can do is unbelievable and his understanding with Sturridge is getting better by the day. A beautiful give and go with Sturridge followed by a lucky bounce, and it was the end of the goal drought from the Uruguayan. After that, he set up Sterling for the second with a neat cutback and then earned a late penalty for Gerrard to score the third in what was yet another virtuoso display by Suarez.

Southampton are no pushovers

The 3-0 scoreline belies the fact that Southampton dominated for large parts of the match. In fact, after the first twenty minutes, they dominated the entire first half and caused numerous problems for Liverpool with their clever passing and movement in the Liverpool half.

The interchanging between Lambert, Rodriguez and Lallana kept the Liverpool defenders on their toes and Lallana was unfortunate not to get the equalizer when his shot hit the post after a wonderful Lambert chest down. If Southampton are able to maintain this level of intensity and performance till the end of the season, they could well sneak into an European place.

Liverpool’s title challenge is on

Liverpool came to St. Mary’s knowing fully well that they were going up against a good Southampton side, and they managed to dispatch this tricky fixture with relative ease. They have kept up the pressure on the top teams and with Arsenal losing and Manchester City not playing due to their Capital One Cup final, Liverpool find themselves in the second spot in the league table.

With ten games to go and a 4 point gap to close, Liverpool are in with a great chance if they are able to consistently get the results till the end of the season. Their title chances are still in their own hands given the fact that they will be hosting both Chelsea and Manchester City at home and wins in those two games will help wipe out the points gap if they manage to win their other games.