Southampton boss confirms two major blows for Liverpool clash with £25m star absent
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Russell Martin has confirmed that Southampton will be without key duo Aaron Ramsdale and Jan Bednarek for the clash with Liverpool.
The Saints welcome Liverpool on Sunday in the Premier League as the title-chasers face the favourites for the drop in an intriguing encounter. Given Arne Slot’s side current form, it seems unthinkable that we will see anything other than a Liverpool win but their only defeat in the league this season came after the international break when they lost to Nottingham Forest.
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Hide AdHowever, their task this weekend has seemingly been made less complex as their £25m summer signing in Ramsdale is absent for a few weeks. Martin claimed that his replacement, Alex McCarthy is ready to step in and make an impact. "He's only not in the team because of the level of goalkeeper who wanted to come here. He has the complete trust of everyone and I am looking forward to seeing what he can do."
Bednarek will also be a huge miss. He boasts a wealth of experience that includes 165 Premier League games and Martin spoke about how much they will miss him. "His influence is massive, we need to look at relationships and who has played with each other. Formation is not the most important thing, Sunday could be opportunity for someone to come in as a straight swap or we could tweak."
On the duo, Martin said: "They have been two of our best players. But now it is an opportunity for someone else."
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Speaking of other players, he did confirm that attackers Ryan Fraser and Kamaldeen Sulemana are fit to return after missing recent games with injuries. Sulemana actually netted twice against Jurgen Klopp’s side on the final day of the 2022/23 season as the two sides shared the spoils in a 4-4 draw. He boasts terrific pace on the counter-attack but those two goals have been the only two he has managed in 47 games so far.
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Hide AdThe Reds have no new injury concerns; Trent Alexander-Arnold is likely to be absent which will see Conor Bradley take his spot but there are no clear absentees other than Federico Chiesa. Both Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker look poised to return in the near future, but we await Slot’s press conference for confirmation of any new team news.
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