Liverpool continue their defense of the Carabao Cup crown on Wednesday night when they travel to Southampton in the last 16 of the competition.

The clash at St Mary's serves as an opportunity for the Reds to move closer to a first piece of silverware under Arne Slott, with his predecessor Jurgen Klopp winning Carabao Cup last season. It turned out to be the German's final trophy with the club.

Liverpool are the record winners in the history of this competition, having lifted the trophy ten times with three hands, and received a favorable draw for the quarter-finals. Southampton without a manager are in dire straits after their 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Tottenham on Sunday.

Slott is expected to make changes to his starting lineup on Wednesday, but here are the ones he won't be able to call upon due to injuries and suspensions.

Liverpool's questionable defensive performances in recent games have coincided Ibrahim Konata be in the treatment room. The French behemoth suffered a knee injury during the 2-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League and has since disappeared. It won't appear here.

Similarly, right back Conor Bradley he also missed the meeting with the European champions. Despite enjoying an excellent evening against Kylian Mbappe and company, the Northern Irishman pulled a hamstring during the encounter and will not be available, having not yet returned to training.

Kostas Tsimikas has missed recent outings due to an ankle injury sustained in training. However, Slott confirmed that he is "getting closer" to a return and will return to training with his teammates on Tuesday. However, he is still not guaranteed a place in the matchday squad at St Mary's.

Left back will be a problem for Liverpool if Tsimikas is not fit to play. Andrew Robertson will serve a one-match suspension against Southampton after being sent off in the game Draw 2-2 with Fulham on weekends.

With a fully fit midfield at his disposal, Slott has only one concern in his star-studded forward line. Unfortunately, it is Diogo Jotawho only returned from a long-term injury in the weekend draw with the Cottagers.

Jota made an immediate impact when he scored Liverpool's equalizer late in the match, leading to a typically clinical finish. However, Slott confirmed that he did not escape completely unscathed.

"Diogo would definitely be ideal for him to play, but after the (Fulham) game he wasn't fully fit, so he didn't train with us yesterday," admitted Slott in his pre-match press conference.

"So let's see if he can practice with us today. Don't expect him to start. Hopefully he can get some minutes, but don't expect him to start tomorrow."

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