Arne Slot has said he does not believe his job security hinges on Liverpool securing Champions League qualification this spring but the Dutchman would much prefer not to put that assertion to the test.
On this evidence there seems a decent chance the Champions’s manager will not have to. In finally ending Sunderland’s proud unbeaten home record in the Premier League this season, sixth placed Liverpool left themselves only three points adrift of fourth placed Manchester United and two behind fifth placed Chelsea.
Régis Le Bris’s intelligent and supremely well organised side did not surrender lightly but, with Florian Wirtz continuing to go from strength to strength, Liverpool just about deserved to edge a match decided by Virgil van Dijk’s header from Mo Salah’s second half corner. The only downside for Slot was the nasty looking ankle injury sustained by Wataru Endo.
It all began with both teams eyeing each other rather warily at a rain sodden Stadium of Light. With no one seeming to want to take any real risks too early the first half opened in mutually cautious, thoroughly cagey fashion.
Although Liverpool had quite a bit of possession it initially foundered in the face of a meticulously organised Sunderland defence. Then, with around 30 minutes on the clock, Wirtz met Alex Mac Allister’s pass took a steadying touch and decided to try his luck from the edge of the area.
While Robin Roefs did well to turn that one around a post, Sunderland’s goalkeeper was subsequently relieved to see a subsequent Wirtz shot rebound off the base of an upright after Andy Robertson’s cross bisected Le Bris’s backline.
With Wirtz in increasingly catalytic mood as he assumed centre stage and Mo Salah, sporadically ruffling the already booked Reinildo, Le Bris had reason to look more than a little anxious at times. Yet his team, too, had their moments. All kaleidoscopic positional interchanging going forward, Sunderland were being fully stretched yet remained very much in the game.
It was the sort of match where they particularly missed their injured, customarily talismanic, captain Granit Xhaka.
Enzo Le Fée had dropped back alongside Noah Sadiki to fill Xhaka’s customary place at the base of midfield and the gifted Frenchman’s excellent reading of the game and off the ball positioning ensured his side were able to make a series of important interceptions as Wirtz began demonstrating precisely why Slot was so very keen to sign him from Leverkusen last summer.
The very end of the first half saw a fleeting video assistant referee check prompted by a penalty area tussle involving Brian Brobbey rumbling under Ibrahima Konaté’s challenge as the pair grappled to meet Sadiki’s cross.
Yet if Stockley Park detected no offence, Le Bris looked unusually irritated with the referee, Chris Kavanagh, as he indicated that Konaté had been guilty of excessive shirt pulling.
Perhaps this annoyance transmitted itself to his team as Sunderland re-emerged for the second period in dominant mood, commanding plenty of possession.
Suddenly, Liverpool looked slightly ponderous, their passing lacking the necessary speed and sharpness.
The only downside for Le Bris was that, bar a 25 yard shot from Trai Hume that flew narrowly off target, they barely threatened Alisson.
Once Liverpool began weathering a home storm briefly as intense as the torrential rain that had cascaded down on Wearside all day a vital block from the ever reliable Dan Ballard denied Wirtz.
No matter, a visiting goal was coming. It arrived when Salah swung an excellent corner towards the far post and Van Dijk’s equally impressive header was helped on its inevitable trajectory into the back of the net by Habib Diarra.
A delay ensued as Liverpool’s right back, Endo received lengthy treatment – and pain relief – on the pitch after turning an ankle in evidently agonising fashion. Eventually the Japanese player was carried off on a stretcher and replaced by Joe Gomez.
It was a horrible way for Endo’s first Premier League start of the season to end.
But, with Konate wining an often extremely physical battle with Brobbey and Nordi Mukiele miscuing his shot after dodging Robertson, his side were on course for a potentially vital victory.
Le Bris made a flurry of late substitutions but with Curtis Jones now off the bench and helping holding things together for Liverpool, Slot’s players were free to indulge in a series of slightly relieved congratulatory hugs at the final whistle.
