Sunderland vs Liverpool Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Prediction

Liverpool will be looking to keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea when they take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light this afternoon. 

The Reds gave their Premier League title challenge a major boost after beating Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield on Saturday evening with Gini Wijnaldum’s header proving to be the difference between the two sides.

That win ensured Liverpool remain six points adrift of Chelsea but with the Blues facing a tough trip to Tottenham on Wednesday night, Jurgen Klopp’s side have the chance to cut the gap to just three points with a win today.

The Merseysiders will be confident of doing just that against a Sunderland side who were soundly beaten 4-1 by Burnley on Saturday and currently sit 18th in the table on just 14 points.

David Moyes’ side are also without a win in their last four home league games against Liverpool so they’ll have to improve upon that record if the Black Cats are to secure the victory they need to climb out of the bottom three.

Team news

Liverpool are set to be without Jordan Henderson after the skipper limped out of the win over City with a heel injury. The full extent of the problem isn’t known but with so little time to recover, the midfielder isn’t expected to feature at the Stadium of Light.

Joel Matip is also out as he continues to nurse a niggling ankle injury so Ragnar Klavan is set to keep his place alongside Dejan Lovren at the back.

Philippe Coutinho is back in light training after recovering from ankle ligament damage but this game will come too soon for the Brazilian international.

Klopp isn’t expected to make wholesale changes and will go with the majority of the side that faced City at the weekend so Sadio Mane will play his final game before heading off to the African Cup of Nations.

Sunderland are set to be without Lamine Kone and Victor Anichebe after they picked up injuries at the weekend while Jason Denayer is also struggling to shake off a hamstring problem.

Jordan Pickford, Lee Cattermole, Lynden Gooch, Paddy McNair and Duncan Watmore remain out with long-term injuries.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Sunderland 1-2 Liverpool: The Reds come in to t he game off the back of a four-game winning run and should be able to make it five on the bounce against relegation-threatened Sunderland. The Black Cats were poor against Burnley and while I do expect them to up their game against Liverpool today, I’m backing Klopp’s side to take home the three points.

Betting Tips

Liverpool are the narrow 7/20 favourites to win the game but we can get you enhanced odds of 5/1 on an away win – just click here to take advantage of these incredible odds. Here are some other bets I like the look of:

• Both teams to score at: 21/20 – a £10 bet would return £20.50
• Exact score of 2-1 Liverpool at: 8/1 – a £10 bet would return £90
• Firmino to score first in a 2-1 Liverpool win at: 22/1 – a £10 bet would return £230