Sunderland vs. Liverpool: Date, Time, Live Stream, TV Info and Preview
After surrendering a two-goal lead at home to Leicester City in their last match, Liverpool will be looking to get back to winning ways in the Premier League when they make the trip north to face Sunderland.
The Black Cats have been tough to beat so far this season, but a staggering amount of drawn games —11 from 20 outings—sees them currently languishing down in 14th place in the table.
But if they can conjure some kind of cutting edge against the Reds’ ropey defence, they’ll surely fancy their chances of picking up all three points here.
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Last season the two sides played out a thoroughly entertaining match at the Stadium of Light, with Liverpool taking the spoils courtesy of a 3-1 win. If this is a 90 minutes of comparable back-and-forth, then we’ll be in for a real treat.
Here’s all the information you need on where to catch what should be a fine contest to get the weekend underway.
Date: Saturday, Jan. 10
Time: 12:45 p.m. (GMT), 7:45 a.m. (ET)
Live Stream: BT Sport (UK), NBC Sports Live Extra (US)
TV Info: BT Sport 1 (UK), NBCSN (US)
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Steven Gerrard has scored a brace in each of his last two matches for the Reds—each one sandwiching his announcement that he will leave the club—and you suspect he’ll continue to be deployed in an advanced role at the Stadium of Light.
In Liverpool’s recent FA Cup win over AFC Wimbledon, Gerrard put in an excellent display and was able to affect the game regularly in the final third of the pitch.
Whether he can have comparable influence from that position against Premier League opposition remains to be seen, but Bleacher Report’s Matt Ladson thinks that’s the role he should occupy going forward:
"Pleased to see it looks like Gerrard will be used in more advanced role in midfield now. Hopefully that's how he's used for last 6 months.
— Matt Ladson (@mattladson) January 4, 2015"
Brendan Rodgers could easily rotate for this one, though. It would be Gerrard’s third game in the space of a week if he was to start the match, and with Sunderland likely to make it a physical encounter, perhaps his captain’s abilities would be better utilised from the bench in what could become a ragged encounter.
With that in mind, expect Raheem Sterling to resume the role of key player after he was rested for the aforementioned cup tie.
The England youngster has put in some dazzling displays at the sharp end of the pitch in recent weeks, and his ability to stretch the Sunderland back four will make it much easier for Liverpool’s polished midfield men to function.
Squawka Football gives us an indication of just how important he’s been this season:
From Sunderland’s perspective, it’s absolutely vital that their home form improves. They’ve picked up just one victory at the Stadium of Light all season in the league, and if they’re to preserve their status as a top-flight club come the end of the campaign, that’s a statistic that has to change pretty quickly.
Like Liverpool, the Black Cats’ forward options have failed to fire in earnest this season. Their former goalkeeper Simon Mignolet could afford Sunderland’s strikers a few chances, though, as noted here by Bleacher Report’s Cristian Nyari:
You get the impression this game represents a major opportunity for Poyet’s men. Liverpool are a team that can be gotten at, and with the news that Adam Lallana—arguably the Reds’ best player as of late—is set to miss this game through injury, they have a great chance to impose themselves in the match and pick up a positive result.
It’s difficult to know quite what you’re going to get with Liverpool at the moment, though. They have the quality to rock up and turn Sunderland over, but as we’ve seen in recent weeks, if a team puts them on the back foot, more often than not they crumble under the subsequent pressure.
Given Sunderland’s patent for a draw and the capricious nature of this Liverpool team, expect an evenly contested, high-scoring affair.
Prediction: Sunderland 2-2 Liverpool
