Sunderland vs Liverpool – English Premier League – Preview

Posted on December 30, 2015 by Sreya

The struggling Sunderland will host Liverpool at the Stadium of Light in the final English Premier League fixture of the year. Liverpool defeated the high-flying Leicester City at home this past Saturday, moving to the tenth position with twenty seven points while Sunderland lost their fourth consecutive league fixture in the 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Manchester City.

The Black Cats are one of the prime contenders for relegation this season and firmly sit on nineteenth with just twelve points after eighteen matches. Sam Allardyce’s side may be four points above the abysmal Aston Villa, but they are also seven points adrift of the seventeenth side in the league standings.

Team News

Sunderland will be without Younus Kaboul (hamstring strain), Sebastian Larsson (knee injury) and Adam Matthews (ankle injury). The status of captain John O’Shea, who has a calf injury, is yet unconfirmed as he might face a late fitness test. Jack Rodwell is likely to return from suspension.

Divock Origi joins Joseph Gomez, Danny Ings, Dejan Lovren, James Milner and Martin Skrtl on the sidelines while Jon Flanagan is yet to regain match fitness. Jordon Ibe will return to matchday squad after recovering from a short illness.

Sunderland Possible Starting Lineup: Costel Pantilimon, Billy Jones, Sebastian Coates, Wes Brown, Patrick van Aanholt, Yann M’Vila, Jordi Gomez, Duncan Watmore, Ola Toivonen, Adam Johnson, Jermain Defoe.

Liverpool Possible Starting Lineup: Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne, Kolo Toure, Sakho, Alberto Moreno, Emre Can, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho, Christian Benteke.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Liverpool are undefeated against Sunderland in the last six encounters between these two sides, winning four of those matches.

Sunderland have lost their last four matches in the Premier League. Also, there have been less than 2.5 goals scored in Sunderland’s last three home games in the Premier League, so this is likely to be a low-scoring affair.

On current form, Sunderland are unlikely to get anything out of this match, with a 2-0 scoreline in favor of the visitors being the most likely result.

“We’ll go there and want to win – that’s what we have to show.

There’s no reason to doubt the mentality of the team (or worry) that they’ll maybe think ‘it’s only Sunderland’ or anything like that. How I know them, nobody in the team is like this.

We want to improve our situation, we want to develop, and we want to get more points in this very, very important moment in the league, the end of December, January. There are so many points in the end of December and January.

It’s unbelievable and you should take every one you can.”

– Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool.