Mohamed Salah also has a real knack for drawing fouls from the opposition, making him an appealing option to earn Liverpool at least one free-kick on Sunday. The 32-year-old forward has been fouled on 18 separate occasions in the Premier League this season. That has coincided with Salah racking up at least one free-kick for the Reds in all bar one of his 11 top-flight appearances this term to date. It’s also worth noting that the Egyptian forward has been fouled in two of his four Champions League outings this season so far, as well as one of his two EFL Cup substitute appearances.

He will likely come up against Ryan Manning, who is averaging one foul per-game in the Premier League this season for Southampton.

With Ryan Manning likely to be tasked with keeping a close eye on the aforementioned Mohamed Salah, it makes sense to side with the Southampton defender to tackle his way into trouble on Sunday afternoon. As already mentioned, Manning has averaged one foul per 90 in this season’s Premier League. He was guilty of two offences during Southampton’s previous home game with Everton despite featuring for just 59 minutes. Furthermore, the Irishman was shown a yellow card during the Saints’ 3-2 defeat to Leicester last month.

Manning can expect arguably his toughest individual battle of the season so far when pitting his wits against Salah on Sunday, making him a strong contender to fall foul of the referee on at least one occasion.

Another Liverpool player who has a habit of winning his side free-kicks is Curtis Jones. The 23-year-old has been a crucial figure in the heart of Liverpool’s midfield this season, providing goals, energy and quality on the ball in both defence and attack. His all-action displays can be attributed to him being fouled in each of his last six Premier League appearances for Liverpool, earning multiple free-kicks against both Aston Villa and Chelsea. Jones was also fouled a combined total of three times during England’s final two Nations League group games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland.

He will likely find himself up against former Liverpool man Adam Lallana, who has sinned six times across his seven Premier League outings for Southampton this season.

While Southampton will be up against it on Sunday, they look well placed to earn a minimum of three corners during this contest. The Saints have averaged a shade under five flag-kicks per-game across the opening stretch of the Premier League season. They have covered the 3+ corner line in seven of their 11 top-flight outings this term, with two of the four games they failed to do so coming away from home against both Arsenal and Man City. Russell Martin’s men racked up nine corners away at Wolves last time out, not to mention they hit 10 during a recent home game with Leicester.

While Liverpool are flying high at the top of the table, they did ship nine corners in their last outing when hosting Aston Villa. They also conceded three flag-kicks away at a struggling Crystal Palace side last month, which would suggest that there is plenty of scope for Southampton to follow suit on Sunday.

Luis Diaz is thriving under Arne Slot’s guidance, netting nine times across his 16 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions this season. As such, the Colombian forward holds plenty of appeal to register a minimum of one on-target effort against Southampton at St Mary’s on Sunday. The Liverpool livewire has worked the opposition goalkeeper nine times across his 11 Premier League appearances this season so far.

It’s also worth noting that the 27-year-old has hit the target with four of his five shots on goal in this season’s Champions League, three of which hit the back of the net against Bayer Leverkusen. Thus, Diaz looks like a prime candidate to land another on-target effort against a Southampton side that have given up a combined total of 33 shots on target across their opening five Premier League home games of the season.

Kyle Walker-Peters looks worthy of support to commit a minimum of one foul on Sunday afternoon. The Southampton right-back has got on the wrong side of the referee in six of his nine Premier League appearances this season. Dig a little deeper, and you will find that Walker-Peters has given away exactly one free-kick in four of his last five top-flight outings, including each of his last two.

That trend could certainly continue on Sunday given that he will likely be up against Luis Diaz. The Liverpool forward was fouled three times against Aston Villa a fortnight ago, not to mention he earned his side one free-kick or more in six of his nine Premier League appearances prior to that.