Arne Slot appears to have listened to Jamie Carragher's plea to prioritize the Premier League as he named a much-changed Liverpool team for tonight's Carabao Cup meeting with Southampton.

The Reds are in the midst of a hectic fixture schedule, with the team currently contending with two games a week, and Slot is clearly viewing tonight's game as an opportunity to rest his star players.

Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch, Alisson, Luis Diaz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones have all been given the night off, with the Reds' head coach making eight changes from the team that lined up against Fulham over the weekend. Andy Robertson is, of course, suspended.

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Slot's team selection should come as no surprise after what he said during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. He said: "I am aware of the fact that we have only four defenders available and probably the ones that have started a lot of times will not play 90 minutes, and maybe not even at all. So, it's going to be either academy players that are going to get playing time or it's going to be players that nobody would expect to see in the last line that are going to play in the last line tomorrow."

Liverpool legend Carragher will surely be a fan of the team Slot has chosen after he urged the manager to prioritize the Premier League, with a tricky trip to Tottenham to come on Sunday.

“The title feels so important for Liverpool this season and you almost want to really explain that to the manager,” Carragher said during The Overlap’s Christmas Special Fan Debate (brought to you by Sky Bet). “That’s what I feel like, I feel like I want to just get hold of him and say, ‘Listen, forget that FA Cup lark and the Carabao Cup.’

“You’re in a position where you’ve got a decent lead, it looks like City are not going to be involved, you fancy you can take on Arsenal or Chelsea – that’s the feeling with the fanbase.”

Liverpool team vs Southampton: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Quansah, Endo, Gomez; Morton, Mac Allister, Nyoni; Elliott, Gakpo, Nunez