Match Preview: Will Sunderland Cause An Upset At Anfield?

Well, here we are – the first meeting since promotion between Sunderland and last season’s Premier League Champions, Liverpool. Never could I have imagined that by the time we played them, in December, that we’d be above them in the table and actually feeling like we’re capable of going there and getting something, but this special Sunderland side keep on defying the odds and proving that we aren’t just here to make up the numbers.

Having taken three points off a brilliant Bournemouth side at the weekend despite giving them a two-goal head start, the Lads will go into this one knowing that all of the pressure isn’t on them for once, and that somehow winning the game at one of the most difficult stadiums in world football would mark one of the most outstanding results in the club’s recent history.

With each passing week it feels as though more and more people are waking up to how good this Sunderland team really is. Whilst it’s great receiving praise, you have to hope that the Lads don’t take themselves too seriously and don’t allow their focus to adjust — the goal, as with every other game, is to go out there and graft our backsides off to get the best possible result. That I’m sat here writing this and feeling confident about our ability to do so against last season’s title-winners shows just how far we’ve really come.

The Opposition…

Liverpool are in a strange old place right now, and despite getting themselves a win at the weekend, nobody really knows which version of Arne Slot’s team are going to show up tonight.

Last week they lost 3-0 to Nottingham Forest and 4-1 to PSV Eindhoven at Anfield, and calls from some sections of the support to see Slot leave began to grow in numbers, so gaining three points when they played West Ham United on Sunday was crucial, and they got the job done. Yet, they faced one of the worst sides in the division and had the victory gift-wrapped for them thanks to Lucas Paqueta’s ridiculous red card, so how much can you really read into that particular victory and what it means for their current condition? I guess we’re about to find out.

Many of the players who featured at the weekend have just returned from injury layoffs, so it’ll be interesting to see who actually starts tonight.

Mo Salah was benched for the first time in ages, but the talk seems to be that he’ll come back in on the right hand side. Joe Gomez was apparently very good at right back, but that was his first ninety minutes for a long time and it’s unlikely that he’ll start this evening, with Curtis Jones expected to come into the side in his place. Big-money summer recruits Alex Isak and Florian Wirtz both impressed at the London Stadium, but they’re short on match sharpness and whether they’ll be in tonight’s starting eleven remains to be seen.

The Reds are without Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley, who are both unavailable for selection.

Do not despair, though — I’m fairly certain that Régis Le Bris will have a plan for every eventuality, and as we learned in my chat on Haway The Podcast this week with Craig from The Anfield Wrap, Liverpool don’t seem to fare very well against teams that line-up with five at the back, so it’ll be interesting to see if we see a return to the system that yielded a great result away at Chelsea not too long ago.

How Are Sunderland Shaping Up?

Sunderland’s comeback victory over Bournemouth on Saturday was probably one of our all-time greatest Premier League performances, and you’d have to imagine that the players and staff are on cloud nine right now.

To be able to come back in the way we did against a very strong team was unbelievable, really, and should have fired a warning shot at all the teams around us in the table, showing that we’re no mugs and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

We have a huge opportunity to go there and cause a massive upset, and I think that’s something the players will relish. They’ll be loving all the attention that they’re receiving at the minute and won’t want it to end, so what better way than to get ourselves a victory at Anfield, potentially catapulting ourselves into the top four again?

As I alluded to before, I reckon we’ll probably see the return of a back five for this one. It wasn’t necessary on Saturday, and I’m glad we changed things up as we knew it’d be a more open game, but we’ve got to be a little more cautious away from home and need to ensure that we don’t allow Liverpool the room to create the chances they’ll need to defeat us.

With that in mind, I’m going for the following team: Roefs, Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Reinildo, Xhaka, Sadiki, Le Fee, Traore, Brobbey. Yes, I reckon we’ll finally see Brian Brobbey start a game tonight, and you can’t say he hasn’t earned it. When we’re under pressure we’re going to need an outlet, and that’s exactly what he’ll provide up against one of the best in the business in Virgil Van Dijk.

Gav’s Predictions…

Against Nottingham Forest, Liverpool were the better team in the opening stages, but they never made it count and Forest made them pay. I’m not expecting us to go and win three-nil, as nice as that would be, but I think there probably is a blueprint for how you shape up against this Liverpool side and we’d be daft not to take some pointers from what other teams managed to do there last week.

If we can ride through that opening half an hour unscathed, I quite fancy us to get a goal just before half time from a set play that will set our opponents away panicking during the half time break.

I’m going for a scoreline of Liverpool 0-1 Sunderland, with Omar Alderete bagging his second of the season… a header from a Granit Xhaka corner. Haway!