Southampton v Liverpool: Carabao Cup quarter-final – live

22 min: Saints are slowly edging their way into this game. The hosts with a little bit more possession in the middle of the park.

20 min: Fernandes slips Dibling into space down the inside-right channel. The Saints starlet enters the box, opens his body, and … scuffs a weak shot straight at Kelleher, who will be glad of the handling practice in these wild conditions. A decent chance for the hosts.

19 min: Nyoni snaffles possession in midfield, and sends Nunez scampering away down the inside-left channel. He enters the box and shapes to shoot, only to be denied by an aquaplaning Bednarek. Brilliantly timed slide tackle.

17 min: Another McCarthy hoof. More cheers all round. But Liverpool regain possession immediately. Russell Martin’s argument, right there. On the other hand, Saints were 3-0 down by this point last weekend, so there are two sides to this one.

15 min: Nunez, on the edge of the Saints D, looks for the top-right corner of the goal. He finds the top-right corner of the stand. Liverpool want a free kick, Mac Allister prevented from making a run into the box by Wood’s block. But they’re not getting one.

14 min: Gakpo shimmies in from the left and looks for Mac Allister, in space just inside the box. A pinpoint cross and Saints are in trouble. The cross isn’t pinpoint. Out for a goal kick it goes. Saints go up the other end, where Archer and Fernandes make nuisances of themselves on the edge of the Liverpool box. Quansah deals with the danger.

12 min: The Liverpool forwards press McCarthy. The keeper whacks clear, safety first. Cheers from the home support. Not wholly ironic, I’ll be bound.

11 min: Mac Allister hits the corner over everyone’s head. One dismal set piece each, then.

10 min: Gakpo probes down the left and wins the first corner of the evening off Bree. Mac Allister trots across to take it.

8 min: Harwood-Bellis rakes a fine long pass down the inside-right channel for Bree to hare after. Bree’s clear of the Liverpool back line, but he’s gone a fraction too early, and the flag quickly pops up for offside. It was close, but there’s no VAR, so the officials won’t be playing as fast and loose as they normally do in the Premier League.

7 min: Liverpool are dominating the early possession. Some relief for Southampton as Alexander-Arnold blooters a long crossfield pass out for a throw.

5 min: The rain is coming down in sheets now. A good evening for slick passing, if nothing else. Nyoni curls a cross in from the left but it’s headed clear by Harwood-Bellis.

3 min: Nyoni gets a few touches as he gamely attempts to get something going down the left. A nerve-settler for the young man on his first senior start, if nothing else.

1 min: A long ball pumped down the left flank. Quansah barges Archer to the ground near the corner flag. A very early chance for Southampton to test the makeshift Liverpool defence … but Manning inexplicably skies the free kick over everyone’s head and it’s an easy mop-up job for the visitors.

Southampton get the ball rolling. The rain is almost horizontal. Arne Slot, serving a touchline ban tonight after picking up his third yellow of the season against Fulham, may be happy to be safe and snug towards the back of the stand.

The teams are out! Southampton in red and white, Liverpool in black with aqua trim. Alex McCarthy and Trent Alexander-Arnold tonight’s captains. It’s wet and windy down Solent way. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot talks to Sky. “The players who have played many, many, many minutes are not even with us … the players who have played a lot of minutes will not play the whole game today … the ones who haven’t played that much, it’s an ideal moment for them to play 90 … it’s easier for [Tyler Morton and Trey Nyoni] if they can come in with ten other starters because the connection with the team is perfect … now there are a few different players … they know what to do but they will face a strong Southampton team … we knew how difficult it was two or three weeks ago when we played our starters … it is going to be a challenge but it’s a quarter-final so you expect a challenge.”

Saints interim manager Simon Rusk speaks to Sky Sports. “Obviously a quick turnaround from Sunday … a little bit of time to get organised on the grass … get to know the guys … we’re confident we’re where we need to be … the best we can … we look forward to it … there have been things in games that have been excellent, so we try to retain that … but of course we want to be hard to beat … make sure we have solidity to our game … if we get the balance right we’ll have enough to cause problems … it’s a great competition … it’s an opportunity for us to make it a catalyst for the season.”

Here’s a reminder of exactly what happened when these two teams clubs met last month …

… and here’s how things went down the last time they met in the League Cup, back in the 2017 semis. Features an outrageous 54th-minute Fraser Forster save from, er, Fraser Forster.

Saints make three changes in the wake of the Spurs debacle. James Bree, Nathan Wood and Cameron Archer are in, replacing the absent trio of Kyle Walker-Peters, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Adam Armstrong.

Liverpool make eight changes after their draw with Fulham. In come Caoimhín Kelleher, Wataru Endō, Jarell Quansah, Tyler Morton, Alexis Mac Allister, Harvey Elliott, Darwin Núñez and, making his first start for the club, the exciting 17-year-old midfield prospect Trey Nyoni. They replace Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah, who have all stayed at home.

The teams

Preamble