Sunderland vs. Liverpool: Winners and Losers from Premier League
Liverpool moved up to seventh place in the Premier League table and within five points of fourth place on Wednesday with a nervy 1-0 win over Sunderland.
The Stadium of Light bore host to a contest between two teams lacking flow and confidence, with plenty of good chances being squandered before Christian Benteke coolly slotted the visitors ahead.
The result leaves manager Sam Allardyce's Black Cats on a five-game losing streak and in an alarming state heading into 2016, but it gives the Reds a serious boost, crowning a six-point haul from the festive fixtures.
Here, B/R picks its winners and losers from the action.
Winner: Yann M’Vila, Sunderland
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If there’s a bright spot for Sunderland amid five straight losses, it can be found in the form of a combative French midfielder many doubted ahead of his summer arrival.
Yann M’Vila has been consistently good for the Black Cats this season despite the side’s issues, and on Wednesday, he was their best player—full of hard running and tenacious tackling yet also the only player seemingly able to get his foot on the ball, calm things down and release a full-back to start an attack.
Where every other Sunderland player wilted in the face of incessant Liverpool possession and pressure, M’Vila remained unmoved. He's making a case for getting his career firmly back on track following a year or two in the wilderness, and he's finally living up to the high potential marker he was given four years ago.
Winner and Loser: Christian Benteke, Liverpool
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Christian Benteke is one of the most polarising figures in football at the moment, with some mixed showings making for a rather difficult analysis.
Technically, the Belgian has won Liverpool six points over the festive period, scoring the sole goal in both 1-0 wins over Sunderland and Leicester City. But he’s also played pretty terribly in both those matches, with his all-round game—inclusive of runs, passes, decision-making and pressing—severely lacking. The one-on-one miss late on was so predictable.
It makes him hard to gauge, so we’ve made him part winner and part loser. It’s the only way to judge such an aggressively up-and-down showing.
Winner: Vito Mannone, Sunderland
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Vito Mannone may have ended the evening on the losing side and without a clean sheet, but he's still a winner in our books. His individual performance was strong, and given the situation he's in, it was of the utmost importance for him to impress on Wednesday.
Sam Allardyce, unimpressed with regular No. 1 Costel Pantilimon's recent form, put Mannone between the sticks for the Manchester City loss, and despite conceding four, the 'keeper earned enough kudos to tend goal against Liverpool.
A couple of flying saves, some point-blank stops and clean handling from long-range shots should see him pick up a third consecutive start against Aston Villa in the new year.
Loser: Roberto Firmino, Liverpool
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Roberto Firmino’s Premier League struggles continued on Wednesday night as he squandered two big chances that could have made Liverpool’s night extremely comfortable.
Early on he was played in by Philippe Coutinho on the left only to botch his touch so badly it went speeding out of play, and later he nodded an inviting cross straight at Vito Mannone from close range. In between those two chances he smacked the post with a 25-yard screamer, but that near-goal can’t absolve his profligacy elsewhere.
He did improve later on—there was a correlation, actually, between Philippe Coutinho’s decline in performance and Firmino’s rise—and played Christian Benteke in for a missed one-on-one with the seconds ticking away.
Winner: Emre Can, Liverpool
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Emre Can was in fine form on Wednesday evening and emerged as Liverpool’s key performer in midfield during the gritty 1-0 win.
His snappy, aggressive style was the perfect antidote to Sunderland’s desperation on and off the ball, levelling the physical battle and allowing the Reds to dig themselves out of some perilous situations.
Surging forward he was good, linking well with Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino where possible. His second-half run where he rinsed Lee Cattermole and crossed low to create a chance was absolutely stunning.
“[The] best player on the pitch by a significant margin,” argued UEFA B coach Simon Brundish on Twitter.
