A superb second-minute lob by Danny Ings gave Southampton a surprise 1-0 home win over Premier League leaders Liverpool, with the Reds' attack looking rudderless as they were held scoreless for the second game in a row. With the injury-hit champions fielding a makeshift centre-back pairing of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, striker Ings, who joined Southampton on loan from Liverpool in 2018 before making the transfer permanent a year later, was able to exploit some confusion at a set piece to secure the win. The victory lifted Southampton to sixth in the table on 29 points, behind Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City on goal difference. Liverpool stay top on 33 points ahead of Manchester United, who have a game in hand, on goal difference.
lite sport will be allowed to continue in England despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing a new national COVID-19 lockdown on Monday due to surging infections in the country caused by a more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus. The United Kingdom has had more than 2.65 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and recorded over 75,000 deaths. A record 58,784 new cases of the coronavirus were reported on Monday.
England have followed neighbours Scotland in implementing a stringent lockdown with stay-at-home instructions but allowing professional sport to continue. Outdoor sport venues including outdoor gyms, tennis courts and golf courses will close and outside team sports will not be permitted but elite sport, including Premier League soccer, will continue.
In soccer, the League Cup semi-finals are set to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday followed by FA Cup third round action which begins on Friday.
The Premier League also has a fixture crunch to contend with after four matches were postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks at Newcastle United, Manchester City and Fulham.
The outbreaks at Newcastle and City led to the clubs closing their training centre for a deep clean before the players could return.
The Premier League recorded a season-high 18 positive cases in a week last month and a total of 131 individuals in the English top flight have tested positive in 17 rounds of testing.