Sports Blog 30/12/2015: Match Preview – Sunderland vs Liverpool, Wednesday 30th December 2015

Jurgen Klopp will be hoping Liverpool can continue to bounce back when they travel to Sunderland on Wednesday at 7.45pm on Sky Sports 1.

After starting the month with a rampant 6-1 victory over Southampton in the League Cup December quickly unravelled for Liverpool. A shocking 2-0 away loss to a still relatively awful Newcastle was followed by a 2-2 draw at home to West Brom, a point only gained due to a 96th minute goal from Divock Origi. Things appeared to get worst just before Christmas, the Reds losing 3-0 to the league’s in-form side Watford at Vicarage Road. Yet, in the latest twist in this most absurd of Premier League season, Liverpool hosted Leicester on Boxing Day, ending the Foxes’ 10 game unbeaten streak with a 1-0 win. That still leaves the Reds teetering on the edge of the bottom half of the table, however, sitting in 10th with 27 points but with the chance of leaping to 7th with a win on Wednesday evening.

That win over Leicester was notable for more than just (tentatively) ending Liverpool’s sticky patch and bringing to a close the Foxes’ league-topping run; it saw Christian Benteke score for the first time since the Reds’ 3-1 win over Chelsea at the end of October. That takes the Belgian international, at a Super Mega PGM of 35-41, to 6 goals in 12 games (worryingly for Liverpool the top tally so far this season), with Klopp likely praying that his side’s star signing can build on that going forwards.



Luckily for Liverpool it is more than likely that Benteke will be given chance upon chance on Wednesday, with Sunderland, having conceded 37 goals this season, owning the worst defence in the entire Premier League. At points since Big Sam took the reins at Stadium of Light it has looked like Sunderland have been about to turn things around; first was their 3-0 victory over Newcastle at the end of October (followed by 6-2 and 1-0 defeats to Everton and Southampton) before back-to-back wins over Crystal Palace and Stoke at the end of November.

Yet Sunderland have, well, become the same old Sunderland since then, and with 4 losses from 4 since December began sit in 19th on 12 points, 4 above Aston Villa but 5 below Newcastle. It doesn’t help that the Black Cats are almost as inert up front as they are bad at the back; Jermain Defoe (at a Super Mega PGM of 14-18) is their top scorer with 7 goals, though 3 of those came in the League Cup, whilst Steven Fletcher, at 17/2 to score first, is similarly on 4 league goals. On the plus side former Liverpool striker Fabio Borini, at a Super Mega PGM of 12-16, appears to have found some form, scoring in Sunderland’s past 2 games (even if both were mere consolations in the face of 3-1 and 4-1 defeats to Chelsea and Man City).

Most teams would relish the chance to face Sunderland in this busy Christmas period; they are the perfect side to build form against, and Klopp will be salivating at the chance to grab a few goals to boost confidence ahead of tricky start to the New Year. That appears to be what our Spreadex traders seem to think, at least, offering a Liverpool/Sunderland (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.75-0.95 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.5-2.7.