Liverpool-Southampton Preview

Jurgen Klopp says Mohamed Salah was right to call Liverpool's season a failure, after it was confirmed the Reds would miss out on the Champions League.

Manchester United's win over Chelsea on Thursday saw the Red Devils wrap up the remaining Champions League spot, meaning fifth-placed Liverpool will have to settle for a Europa League place next term.

Salah vented his frustration on social media, saying there was "absolutely no excuse" for Liverpool to have failed to make the top four.

Liverpool head to relegated Southampton on Sunday for the final game of a season that Klopp acknowledged has failed to meet expectations.

"It was a just a normal description of his situation, of his feeling, and in that moment directly after the game he's right, it's not the moment to immediately send any optimistic messages," said Klopp when asked about Salah's message.

"But I saw him now in the canteen and he was smiling. I don't know for which reason as I didn't ask him, but he is not in a bad mood. That's it.

"We didn't deliver what everybody wanted or expected but but we are still really united, that's the good thing about it.

"The dressing room is not in a bad mood. We have learned to deal with the situation. We didn't get divided in one moment between manager and team, which is super helpful.

"For a long time and it was clear from a specific point on it would not be a historically good season. We made mistakes, we couldn't deliver often enough and were not consistent enough.

"We didn't point fingers at each other. That's all good. If you don't qualify for the Champions League, the best place you can possibly end up is fifth, so that's what we did."

Southampton - James Ward-Prowse

Sunday's game seems set to be Ward-Prowse's last for Southampton, with the midfielder likely to attract a lot of Premier League attention. Saints' captain will be eager to sign off on a high, though of everyone to score at least 20 combined Premier League goals across the last three seasons, he has scored the lowest percentage of them in home games, with just six of his 26 goals in that time coming at St Mary's Stadium.

Liverpool - James Milner

Milner is leaving Liverpool at the end of his contract. Should he play in this game, it will be his 16th appearance on the closing day of the Premier League season, the joint-most in the competition's history (Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Jamie Carragher and Gareth Barry also 16).

Southampton are winless in their last 12 Premier League games (D3 L9). Only twice in their league history have they had a longer run without a win, going 20 games between August-December 1969, and 17 games between November 1988 and March 1989.

Liverpool have won their final league game in each of the last six seasons, since a 1-1 draw at West Brom in 2015-16. Their last such defeat was a 6-1 hammering at Stoke City in 2014-15.

Southampton have lost 10 of their last 11 Premier League games against Liverpool, while Saints have also lost their final league game of the season in each of the previous two campaigns.

Southampton - 14.2%

Liverpool - 63.3%

Draw - 22.5%

Updated May 26, 2023