Liverpool 2 - 0 SunderlandLiverpool edge past Sunderland but lose Philippe Coutinho to injury
Home team scorersDivock Origi 75
James Milner 90 +0:09 Pen
It is only nine months since Sunderland recovered from a two-goal deficit to draw at Anfield with a goal from a player who now languishes in jail and amid a mass walk out from Liverpool fans angered at proposed ticket price hikes. The threat of relegation still hovers over those from Wearside but Liverpool are unrecognisable in quality and belief, and they returned to the top of the Premier League courtesy of another merited home victory.
Jürgen Klopp’s team may only be there for a few hours and success came at a price with Philippe Coutinho stretchered off with what appeared a serious ankle or foot injury. His replacement, Divock Origi, finally broke the resistance of David Moyes’s stubborn side before James Milner delivered a scoreline more in keeping with the flow of the game with a stoppage-time penalty.
Sunderland’s anxieties had eased a little with back-to-back league wins, their first under Moyes, and they succeeded where many have failed this season in stifling Liverpool throughout the first half at Anfield.
Klopp’s team were less assured than usual, their touch heavier and their penetrating runs in behind not quite paying off, but the visitors’ approach was an instrumental factor. Liverpool’s threat levels increased once Coutinho had exited, strangely, with Sunderland ending the first half hanging on in an 8-2-0 formation.
An afternoon of toil for Liverpool was signalled from the first whistle. Jason Denayer lined up as the midfield anchor for Moyes’s side but sprinted over to Coutinho’s side as soon as the game kicked off and remained there limpet-like for the half hour the Brazilian was on the field. His personal gameplan went out of the window with Coutinho’s injury, though Sunderland’s aim to absorb pressure and strike on the counterattack, or just directly from one of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s precision clearances, never deviated.
Liverpool dominated possession as expected. yet the first clear opening fell to Steven Pienaar when Billy Jones returned the ball into the area following a corner. A second’s hesitation from Loris Karius gave the South African midfielder a free shot but his volley lacked conviction and allowed the Liverpool keeper to block. Karius’s next contribution was to send a goal-kick on the left of his six-yard box straight out for a Sunderland corner on the right. Some achievement.
Aside from a Roberto Firmino drive, the home side rarely troubled the commanding Pickford before the interval and their attacking options did not appear so rich when Coutinho was stretchered off with his right leg in a brace after a collision with Didier Ndong. Liverpool were already without Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge with groin and calf problems respectively and lost their most creative force when Ndong cleared the ball off his toes and made heavy contact with his foot on the follow-through. Coutinho immediately signalled to the bench and his distress was clear as he was carried off.
Against expectations, Liverpool’s threat increased with substitute Origi bringing a more direct, physical presence to the attack. Dejan Lovren headed across the Sunderland goal and wide when Jordan Henderson’s free-kick found the central defender scandalously unmarked at the back post. Emre Can also put a free header wide and Lovren went close from almost 30 yards as Liverpool stepped up the pressure as half-time approached. It never dropped after the restart and Sunderland were clinging on, reliant on good fortune and the right breaks, until Origi released Anfield’s growing tension with 15 minutes left.
Georginio Wijnaldum volleyed wide from close range, Can’s half-volley sailed beyond Pickford’s left-hand post, the two midfielders both failed to connect with Firmino’s low cross across the face of goal, and Henderson sent a well-placed free-kick just over. When Denayer threw himself at Sadio Mané’s close-range shot and deflected wide for a corner Liverpool had every reason to fear a goalless draw for the second Saturday in succession. Enter Origi.
The breakthrough arrived from only a half chance. The Belgium international took possession on the left of the Sunderland area after Can and Henderson had kept the pressure on, cut back inside a tired challenge from Duncan Watmore and curled a shot low into the far corner of Pickford’s goal.
Sunderland had an excellent chance at nil-nil through Watmore but were unable to take it or respond to falling behind and, in stoppage time, Mané broke from the halfway line, held off Denayer and was sent flying by Ndong. Milner converted a clear penalty with ease and Liverpool were back on top of the Premier League prior to Chelsea’s late kick-off.
Guardian