Le Tissier: Liverpool fixture is more intense than ever

Matt Le Tissier reckons the recent exodus of Southampton players, opting to ply their trade for Liverpool, has added a sense of rivalry to the mix.

Former Saints stalwarts such as Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne and Dejan Lovren have all left Southampton in favour of a move to Merseyside over the last two seasons.

Despite those players being infinitely important for Southampton over the years, like last season, both Liverpool and Saints are jockeying for position in the league together despite Saints having the rug pulled from beneath them.

The way the last two summer transfer windows played out has definitely added a bit of intensity to what was formerly somewhat of an unspectacular fixture beforehand - and Le God agrees.

Speaking to the official club site, Le Tiss said: "It is a popular fixture and I think it's become a bit more intense with the amount of players that have left here and gone to Liverpool in the past couple of years."

While Ronald Koeman and his men are fighting it out to earn a place in the Europa League at present, it appears Le Tiss is just happy to see the club in a comfortable league position each season - a far cry from his days as Southampton's talismanic figure.

"It's nice as a Southampton fan now to actually look at the season and not really worry about the bottom half of the table and instead look at how high we can possibly finish this season. For me, these last couple of years have been a breath of fresh air."