JURGEN Klopp has dismissed suggestions Liverpool enter their League Cup semi final with Saints as red-hot favourites.

The Reds are 20 points ahead of Saints in the Premier League and have belted 48 league goals this season - the highest total in the top flight.

Klopp’s men have scored more away league goals - 22 - than Claude Puel’s side have in total (19).

“It would be nice if we could go to the final. Are we favourites against Southampton? Whoever says this has not a real idea about cup competition,” Klopp stated.

“If this was the case, then in the last few years the finals all over the world always would have been the same teams involved.

“I don’t think Sevilla-Liverpool last year was the expected (Europa League) final. Everybody expected Sevilla in the final but not us, but we were there and we deserved it.

“There is not more pressure on us [than Saints], it’s an opportunity for both teams. I don’t think about missed chances or whatever; it’s always a new day, always a new chance, always a new final.

“I said to the lads last year that it will not be the last final we will be involved in after Basel. This will be the first chance for us to prove this, so let’s try it.”

Asked whether having home advantage in the second leg is a big advantage, Klopp replied: “It depends on the result of the first game!

“It should, but we don’t have a lot of advantages in two-leg cup competitions.

“If you asked before [the draw], I would say that nearly everybody would say ‘let us play first away and then try to make the decision in the home game’.

“It’s not a decisive advantage if we don’t perform, that’s how it is.

“We can’t think about the second game because now we have to go to Southampton. I am pretty sure they’re pretty ambitious in this tournament.

“[The final] is a big thing, it’s a real and proper final at Wembley. We’ve had this experience once before and for us it felt always like we missed a little bit there.

“Probably a few people think it would be a nice final [if it was] Manchester United against Liverpool, but there are another two legs to go and hopefully at the end it’s not Hull against Southampton.”

Liverpool will journey to St Mary’s on the back of a goalless draw with League 2 club Plymouth Argyle at Anfield on Sunday in the FA Cup.

Klopp made 10 changes for the clash with the Devonians, but Klopp has no regrets regarding his team selection.

“The question I asked in the dressing room when we had a little analysis meeting was ‘could we have done better?’ 100 per cent, yes, and that’s with that line-up,” he said.

“The biggest challenge in football life is playing against a good, organised and very deep defending side.”

Klopp is expected to play a far stronger side tonight, one that could feature ex-Saints Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne and Dejan Lovren.

Philippe Coutinho, a regular scorer at St Mary’s down the years, is available again after injury but is expected to start on the bench.