Darwin Nunez scored his first Liverpool brace to reach double figures for the season as they made light of Jurgen Klopp’s touchline ban.
While Southampton put up a good account of themselves in manager Nathan Jones’ first game, Nunez made the difference to lift Liverpool into the European places with Klopp watching on from the stands as punishment for his sending-off against Manchester City.
Roberto Firmino, left out of Brazil’s World Cup squad last week, headed Liverpool in front after only six minutes with Saints responding almost immediately as Che Adams headed in James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick.
Nunez then struck twice before the interval to pay off another chunk of his £64million transfer fee.