Wednesday 11th February 2026
Sunderland v Liverpool – Premier League
Stadium of Light Kick-Off: 20:15
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via TNT Sports.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the
blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up…
It’s been a unique season for a variety of reasons, and our defeat at Arsenal was no different. It’s not often you are able to react to a 3-0 defeat with a sense of pride for instance.
For around an hour at the Emirates – especially when we were just one goal down – we looked likely to take something from the game. In the end, Arsenal are probably in the top few sides in Europe, if not the world, and they showed it. Quality moments from quality players took the game away from us and all you can do admit you’re taking on a better side.
But, in terms of looking forward to tonight’s fixture, that performance provides nothing but confidence. For that reason, and throw in the win against Burnley, it would be a surprise if Le Bris made any changes by choice to his starting XI.
We’ve also got this unbeaten home record to give us confidence to take on anyone at the Stadium of Light. We are the only side not to be beaten on their own patch in the Premier League, with only Arsenal, Citeh and Manchester United have taken more points and only the top two have conceded fewer goals.
At the Stadium of Light, we’ve taken on Liverpool fifteen times and won only three – the last being in March 2012 via a Nicklas Bendtner goal – but tonight has that feeling of a big night under the lights.
Looking at the league table, it’s easy to forget that we take on the current Premier League Champions. If Sunderland come out on top tonight, the two sides would be locked on 39 points after 26 games while sitting outside the top five.
It constitutes an amazing season for us, but tonight’s visitors are wondering how they have dropped off from last year. They say that spending big when you’re on top is the way to go, but Liverpool spent around £400m in the summer to add to a title-winning side – and for that they could potentially be level on points with a newly promoted side with two thirds of the season gone.
Looking at their away form, we think ours has been pretty woeful, but Liverpool have only taken five more points than ourselves on the road. In the last five, they have only won once on their travels and that was against Spurs – who have the fourth worst record on their own patch.
Another factor that may come into play is our “til the end” approach. Liverpool’s epic against Citeh at Anfield at the weekend was bonkers, but yet another one where they fell short late on. Only Burnley, Leeds, and the visitors have conceded more goals in the final ten minutes of games and no side in the Premier League – not even the visitors – have dropped more points because of those late goals.
The betting…
The bookies have the Lads at 7/2 to win the game, while Liverpool are priced at 8/11, and the draw is 11/4.
Head to head… at Sunderland
(All competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 33
- Draws: 16
- Liverpool wins: 35
- Sunderland goals: 128
- Liverpool goals: 128
Last time we met… at the Stadium of Light
Monday 2nd January 2017
Premier League
Sunderland 2-2 Liverpool
[Defoe (pen) 25’, (pen) 84’ – Sturridge 19’, Mane 72’]
Sunderland: Mannone, Love, O’Shea, Djilobodji, van Aanholt, Larsson, Rodwell (Manquillo), Ndong, Januzaj (Khazri), Borini, Defoe Substitutes not used: Mika, Ledger, Embleton, Honeyman, Maja
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Milner (Moreno), Can, Lovren, Klaven, Lallana, Wijnaldum (Origi), Sturridge (Leiva), Firminho, Mane Substitutes not used: Karius, Stewart, Alexander-Arnold, Ejaria
Attendance: 46,494
Prediction…
Sunderland 1-1 Liverpool
They might not be in great form and eventually lost against Citeh at the weekend, but they still looked very good in that game. It’s going to be a fun night under the lights, and I reckon we’ll take a point late on.
