Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana admits that the consistency his former side Southampton have shown this season has surprised him.
Lallana was one of a trio of players, including Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren, who left Southampton to join Liverpool last summer, in the hope of furthering their careers.
Though the Saints lost a whole host of key personnel to other clubs, new manager Ronald Koeman showed sharp skills in the transfer market to replace the departed quality and after making a brilliant start to the season, Southampton have managed to sustain their challenge for a Champions League spot deep into their campaign.
And Lallana admits that their consistency in performances, despite last summer’s problems, has surprised a lot of people, including the Liverpool midfielder himself.
He gives credit to Koeman for sustaining Southampton’s challenge for European football deep into the season, but feels the Reds can put one over his former team tomorrow.
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Since they are separated in the league table by just four points, Lallana feels a win at Southampton tomorrow would help Liverpool to build momentum going into the business end of the season.
“The consistency that they have shown has not just surprised me, but the whole Premier League”, the England international told Liverpool’s official site.
“It's credit to them that they've kept it up for so long. Now, at the back end of the season, they'll just be taking it game by game.
“It's a massive game at the weekend because we can go level on points with them and I think that would be massive from a psychological perspective for us.
"We'd have the momentum.”
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