Liverpool beat Southampton 2-1 to reduce Man City's EPL lead to one point

A header by centre-back Joel Matip secured a 2-1 comeback win for English Premier League (EPL) side Liverpool against Southampton at the St Mary's Stadium on Tuesday, May 17.

The win ensures the Reds are just one point behind leaders Manchester City, with both teams having one match left. The former is set to face Wolverhampton on Sunday, May 22 while the latter will play Aston Villa.

At St Mary's the opening minutes of the match saw Liverpool fans hide in fear after Nathan Redmond put the home side 1-0 up on the 13th-minute. The winger cut inside of defender Joe Gomez and his shot took a huge deflection off James Milner to beat Alisson Becker.

However, Takumi Minamino claimed the 27th-minute equaliser, beating Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy at his near post with a powerful, rising drive into the roof of the net.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp explained the nine changes made to his starting line-up ( Image: Getty Images) Pulse Live Kenya

Nine changes

Minamino was part of a makeshift team that manager Jurgen Klopp had been forced to call upon after their FA Cup win against Chelsea on Saturday, May 14.

Liverpool made nine changes to the side that beat Chelsea on penalties, with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah left out of the squad completely for the trip to St Mary’s.

“I never had a group like this. They push each other constantly. In the end, it is absolutely outstanding and tonight is really special...We would have had much more problems today if we’d played the guys who played 120 minutes on Saturday," said Klopp.

Joel Matip claimed the winner in the second half as he held off Kyle Walker-Peters to send a looping header beyond McCarthy and into the right corner in front of the travelling fans.