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13 min: Liverpool have enjoyed 75 percent of possession so far.
12 min: Liverpool continue to probe. Gakpo and Ekitike take turns to examine the inside-left channel, but again there’s no way through. Both teams will be happy enough with their start.
10 min: Alisson’s long blooter down the middle nearly releases Salah through on goal. Roefs is wise to the grift, and races from his box to whack clear.
9 min: After a storming Sunderland start, Liverpool are beginning to get a bit of a foothold in this game. The hosts sitting back and holding their shape. Gakpo cuts in from the left but there’s no route to goal. His half-hearted cross is easily cleared; Konate suffers a rush of blood to the head and attempts a shot from 30 yards. It flies roughly the same distance over the bar, and wide left also.
7 min: Back in the 1980s, there used to be a Liverpool fanzine called Another Wasted Corner. And that was during the club’s all-conquering pomp. Anyway, they’re still at it.
6 min: Salah and Ekitike combine down the inside-right channel and feed Wirtz, who bursts into the box and wins Liverpool’s first corner of the evening. Salah to take.
5 min: Liverpool get a prolonged touch of the ball for the first time. Mac Allister swings a cross in from the right. Ekitike challenges for a header but Roefs comes off his line to punch powerfully clear.
4 min: Sunderland win a throw deep in Liverpool territory. Hume is expected to fling it in long, but takes it short instead, and soon enough the ball’s back at the feet of Roefs. A bit odd. Sunderland perhaps keeping their powder dry, if literally nothing else.
2 min: … the ball’s played back to Angulo, who tries to trick Alisson at his near post. The keeper reads the danger and claims. That’s got the home fans, already giving it plenty, going some. Meanwhile here’s Peter Oh: “Liverpool have had such bad luck with injuries, shipping comical last-gasp goals, and suspensions. How could things possibly get worse? Running into eleven Black Cats maybe? Sigh.”
1 min: It has been belting down on Wearside all day. It’s still raining. Windy as well. And Sunderland are on the front foot early doors, Mukiele in space on the right and winning a very early corner off Robertson. From which …
After Prokofiev and Republica, some Elvis. They can’t help falling in love with them. And they – Sunderland – get the ball rolling. What an atmosphere!
No pre-match pow-wow with Régis Le Bris, who’ll have been doing his talking in the changing room. So here come the teams. Sunderland in their famous red and white stripes, Liverpool in third-choice “sea green” with gloriously retro 70s/80s shield. The home fans standing on the rooftops shouting out. We’ll be off in a minute!
Arne Slot talks to TNT Sports. “Throughout the whole season [the right-back position] is like this … it is not going to be the first time that Wata Endo is playing as a full-back … we have struggled in that position a lot … not because we don’t have one, but the two we have, have been injured a lot … a very good replacement [Joe Gomez] has mainly not been there when the two others are out … I have two good full-backs on [the left side] … it is another time we have played three games in seven days … that is different than three in eight … not many times Milos [Kerkez] has done this because he comes from Bournemouth where he did not play in Europe … the few times I did [select him] he struggled a little bit with playing so many times … [Andrew Robertson] is a great replacement to have.”
Penny for the thoughts of Calvin Ramsay, right-back by trade, sitting on the bench. Meanwhile Slot is asked about the race for the Champions League places: “We know what we have to do, 13 games to be played … we have to win a lot of them to get to the position we want to be … maybe yesterday the results were not too bad for us but this can change every week and we have to focus on ourselves … get as many points as we can.”
Here’s a reminder of what happened when the teams met in the reverse fixture at Anfield a couple of months ago. In both traditional match report and new-fangled MBM format, for your leisure and pleasure.
Shoogly Peg latest. At the start of the season, if you’d been told one of tonight’s managers would be worried about the status of their coat on the aforementioned hanging point, your concerns would surely have been for Régis Le Bris. Ah but.
Sunderland make one change to their starting XI after the 3-0 defeat at Arsenal. It’s an attacking one: Nilson Angulo comes in for Chemsdine Talbi, who drops to the bench. Captain and all-round influencer Granit Xhaka is still missing.
Liverpool make two changes to their starting line-up in the wake of their 2-1 loss to Manchester City. One is enforced: Dominik Szoboszlai is suspended so Wataru Endo takes his place as stand-in right-back. Meanwhile in the other full-back position, Andy Robertson comes in for Milos Kerkez, who is benched.
The teams
Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Mandava, Sadiki, Le Fee, Hume, Diarra, Angulo, Brobbey.
Subs: Ellborg, Cirkin, Geertruida, Talbi, Rigg, Mayenda, O’Nien, Mundle, Isidor.
Liverpool: Alisson, Endo, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Kerkez, Chiesa, Jones, Nyoni, Ramsay, Morrison, Ngumoha.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
VAR: Darren England
Preamble
Sunderland haven’t beaten Liverpool for the best part of 14 years, since the days of Nicklas Bendtner and Kenny Dalglish. Before that, it was That Beachball Game in 2009. And yet despite these slim pickings, the Black Cats go into tonight’s fixture full of hope. Newly promoted Sunderland are delighted to be sitting pretty in mid-table; reigning champions Liverpool, just three points better off, aren’t feeling quite so comfy. Sunderland are unbeaten at home in this campaign; Liverpool haven’t won on the road in the League since before Christmas, and that at Spurs, which isn’t exactly a cap-enhancing feather right now. Sunderland have won their last two at home; Liverpool have lost two of their last three League fixtures, the latest in farcical fashion.
So you can see why Sunderland and the Stadium of Light faithful might fancy this. But Liverpool will be buoyed by results going their way last night, an opportunity to haul themselves back in the race for next season’s Champions League suddenly presenting itself. With time running out for the champions to get their season back on some semblance of track, they’ll surely be desperate for three points tonight, and will act accordingly. The hosts – who have already held Arsenal and Manchester City at home – will be unwilling to bend to their desire. All of which tees up the possibility of high drama, fun, entertainment, controversy, farce, and so on, and so forth. Fingers crossed, anyway. Kick-off is at 8.15pm GMT. It’s on!
