Sunderland vs. Liverpool: Premier League 2025-26 Preview & Team News
· Yahoo Sports
| Wednesday, February 11th |
Premier League | Stadium of Light
8:15PM BST/3:15PM EST
Sunderland are unbeaten at home, and are the only Premier League team able to claim such a record. Indeed, their unbeaten home record is the longest by a newly promoted side since Nottingham Forest’s 21-game-streak in the 1977-78 season (yes, they went unbeaten all season at home and then won the title). They come into this match sitting 9th on the table in comparison to Liverpool’s 6th, but it’s apparent which team is more pleased with the current state of affairs. Nonetheless, they’ve had a mixed run in the last five, losing last match against Arsenal 3-0 after beating Burnley by the same scoreline the match previous. Shockingly they subsequently lost to West Ham United after beating Crystal Palace at home: their two home games have been wins, while their away efforts resulted in two losses, having shipped three goals in each. They did beat Everton away in the FA Cup, but did so via penalties, drawing 1-1 at full time.
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They’ll be pleased to have Liverpool at home is what I’m saying, as their record at the Stadium of Light is very different than their wider one; that Liverpool at present seem a team able to be got at will only spur on a home crowd under the lights. Historically, all three of Liverpool’s defeats to Sunderland in the Premier League era have come at the Stadium of Light, though their last win was back in 2012.
The Black Cats have struggled in midweek fixtures thus far this season, and likely are not built to play at these intervals — though this caveat is limited both by Liverpool’s own squad depth struggles, the fact that they played on Saturday and thus have an extra day to prepare, and the fact that their last goal in these challenging midweek fixtures came against Liverpool at Anfield. Meanwhile, Liverpool have only won two away matches this season, drawing three and losing five.
Nilson Angulo, Sunderland’s January signing, will be available for this match, and Noah Sadiki has returned to fitness and could feature as well. Bertrand Traoré remains sidelined with injury for the Black Cats, as, importantly, does captain Granit Xhaka.
Trai Hume has filled in as captain in Xhaka’s absence, and the hard-working, vocal Hume has done well to maintain Sunderland’s high standard. Xhaka’s creativity will be a continued miss for Sunderland, however, as the midfielder had been crucial for his side’s creativity in front of goal.
Brian Bobbey is Sunderland’s top scorer with five goals, while 20-year-old Chemsdine Talbi will be looking to score to make it a goal both home and away against the league champions.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Alisson; Jones, Konaté, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Wirtz, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Ekitiké, Gakpo
Liverpool have had six players play at right back this season, but will be missing (likely) four of them given ongoing injuries to Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley, and Sunday’s suspension to Dominik Szoboszlai — the latest of Liverpool’s self-inflected wounds. Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s match, Arne Slot confirmed that Joe Gomez will train for the first time with the team on Tuesday, and could thus be involved on Wednesday night. Should be not be fit, though, Slot has confirmed that natural right back Calvin Ramsay will not be called upon, hinting instead at the other two league-used options: Curtis Jones and Wataru Endō.
This further limits Slot’s choices in midfield, as Jones would be a natural replacement for the absent Szoboszlai should the Hungarian be asked to play his more natural position. Slot will likely move Florian Wirtz into the 10 role behind a front three, but this would mean fielding his strongest starting XI — not something he’s been wont to do this season, preferring to leave at least one strong option on the bench. Federico Chiesa might play a role as the only player on the bench with senior experience, but Slot has not liked to use the Italian given any other option. Rio Ngumoha, too, will be available. (Full disclosure: I did just Google the squad list to see if it’s possible I had forgotten someone. I had hoped there was a midfielder I had forgotten. Alas.)
Liverpool have drawn their last four games against newly promoted side, and are facing the potential to go winless in five straight such meetings for the first time since 1981 — not a record the Reds will want to add to a season of frustration.
A squad stretched thin in a challenging atmosphere will want to cash in on their individual superiority early if possible, and a bright start from the Reds would go a long way toward making this one manageable. Given that the Reds have very little when it comes to reinforcements, now would certainly be a good time for attacking fluidity to come to the boil to take the pressure off a defense spread thin and characterized by lapses in concentration.
The Managers Have Their Say
Arne Slot: “But it’s not only that they [Sunderland] have a good record at home, they have had a very good season. But the record at home, I was aware of that as well. And already played against City and Arsenal at home, so that tells you how good of a season they are having and how strong and good they are at home.”
Régis Le Bris: “To be fair I think we played the game we wanted to play [in the loss v. Arsenal]. We were bold and aggressive in our high press. I think our mid-press was better compared with the home game. Our deep press was good as well but they found solutions with shots from outside the box. We had good control of the ball. The main difference was the level of threat. They were really good with that and created five or six chances while we made one and a half. It is positive as we know where we are in our journey but there’s a long way to go to achieve this challenge. It’s really positive, confidence is getting better and we have more solutions now to fix different problems.”
The Officials
Referee: Chris Kavanagh Assistants: Dan Cook, Marc Perry Fourth Official: Thomas Bramall VAR: Darren England Assistant VAR: Craig Taylor
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