{"id":1262666,"date":"2022-05-17T22:14:15","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T21:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1262666"},"modified":"2022-05-17T22:15:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T21:15:56","slug":"joel-matip-james-milner-southampton-1-2-liverpool-player-focus","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/joel-matip-james-milner-southampton-1-2-liverpool-player-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"“A special group of players” – Free agents lead the way as much-changed Liverpool beat Southampton to keep title race alive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joel Matip led a rotated Liverpool side to victory at Southampton to take the Premier League title race to the final day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Alisson and Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 were the only starters from the FA Cup final to retain their places as Jurgen Klopp made nine changes to freshen up his heavily fatigued squad.<\/p>\n

But it was two free signings that led the way for the Reds: James Milner and especially Joel Matip.<\/p>\n

Milner, a late sub in the FA Cup final, started in central midfield and put in a fantastic performance. An injury to Joel Gomez forced him to right-back where he had to fill in and he did that with aplomb as well.<\/p>\n

It was a really impressive display from Milner as the 36 year-old created a game-high 6 chances, making him the oldest player to have created 5+ chances in a Premier League game since Paul Scholes a decade ago against QPR.<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/t.co\/KFWX73MMWH<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/cdQyGRDY9X<\/a><\/p>\n

— Squawka (@Squawka) May 17, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n