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"The Liverpool man picked up where he left off last season against Southampton, scoring a goal and providing the winner to give the Reds a hard-fought victory.  &amp;nbsp; #453732638 / gettyimages.com  Liverpool won their first game of the season against Southampton on Sunday in no small part due to the outstanding performance of their young forward Raheem Sterling. Fresh from scoring 10 goals in 34 games last season, as well as providing 9 assists for Brendan Rodgers' free scoring Anfield side, Sterling showed there is life after Suarez by scoring and assisting during his side's 2-1 win. Only Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson was comparable to Sterling when it came to contributing a goal and an assist in his first game of the season, while the youngster also starred in a couple of other key areas. Below we look at the Liverpool star's stats:&amp;nbsp;    &amp;nbsp; TeamPassing Accuracy %Dribbling Success %TouchesGoalsGoal AssistOntarget Scoring AttApps&amp;nbsp;Mins   Raheem Sterling Liverpool 81.82 71.43 71 1 1 3 1 90    The England man was recently compared to Lionel Messi in the way he beat players and converted his chances by his Liverpool manager, and the 19-year-old certainly complied with the Northern Irishman's praise by making a sensational start to his 2014/15 season. Not only did Sterling score the opener against Southampton, a composed finish that beat Saints debutant Fraser Forster, he also, somewhat surprisingly, guided a header in the packed Saints box to Liverpool and England teammate Daniel Sturridge to bundle home the winner. Sterling's 71 touches was in the top three of those that managed to score this weekend, while his three on target attempts was the joint highest of all Premier League players. Unsurprisingly, the fleet footed winger also was one of the better dribblers, beating his man 71% of the times he attempted to. SEE ALSO: How does Liverpool's Raheem Sterling compare to Messi at 19-years-old?With Luis Suarez having left the club this summer, there is certainly room for the club's other attacking players to put themselves forward as the chief tormentors of the opposition, and Sterling is the first to stand up and make a serious claim to the Uruguayan's mantle. Quite how good the ex QPR youngster will be this season, we'll all just have to wait and see. But it certainly looks like Liverpool have England's next big attacking talent on their hands.Were you impressed with Sterling against Southampton?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2014/08/17/stats-sterling-one-of-the-standout-performers-in-opening-pl-week/>