In the wake of the all the injuries to key players, Jurgen Klopp handed Christian Benteke his first Premier League start in a long time. The Belgian justified his place in the starting XI as he scored the winner against Sunderland on Wednesday.
Christian Benteke has now scored 6 goals in the last 7 appearances against the Black Cats and his latest goal secured all three points for his club who end the year on a high. This is Liverpool’s second consecutive 1-0 victory and the manager will take all 3 points no matter how they come.
In a lively encounter, Liverpool created plenty of chances in the first half but just could not find the final touch to break the deadlock. Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana all started behind Benteke on the night and were busy all throughout the game.
Roberto Firmino after some quick feet in the final third found himself some space before unleashing a monster of a shot that brought out one of the saves of the season from Mannone. The goalkeeper was at his full stretch as he just palmed it onto his pole and made sure that Sunderland were level.
Jermaine Defoe also stung Mignolet’s hand at the other end as the game started taking shape with Sunderland happy to relax back and press Liverpool only in the final third. Jack Rodwell picked up an injury just after the half-hour mark and was replaced by Duncan Watmore who immediately injected some directness to the home team’s attack.
This bit of energy got the crowd going inside the Stadium of Light even as Borini and Adam Johnson struck wide from decent openings. However, both teams went into the break at 0-0 and needed to be a bit more adventurous in the final third.
But just seconds after the game resumed, Sunderland switched off as Liverpool found a way past the home side’s defense. Nathaniel Clyne tried a diagonal ball in front of the back four which was luckily flicked into the path of Benteke who made no mistake in putting the ball past a diving Mannone.
Here is the video of the goal
VIDEO: GOAL Benteke #lfc #livsun pic.twitter.com/eBk2QqMKBI
— LFCVI (@LFCVI) December 30, 2015
This set up the tone of the second half as the game started to open up a bit with Sunderland looking for an equalizer. But the Liverpool back four stood strong against everything that was going on in front of them and made sure that the home side were frustrated for most parts of the second half.
Allardyce’s frustration deepened as defender Coates limped off the pitch due to another injury. Jermain Lens was also brought into the attack to try and take something from this game but he was not able to have the kind of impact that big Sam would have been hoping for.
Benteke, in the dying stages of the game, missed a glorious one on one chance to put the game beyond any doubt but his goal in the very early second half was enough to see off a struggling Sunderland squad.
Jurgen Klopp will be more than happy with a victory on the night as he now sees his team at the 7th place level on points with Manchester United. Benteke repaid the faith shown on him by Klopp and he will be hoping to continue his form in the New Year.
Sunderland, on the other hand, are surely in the midst of a relegation battle. Though it is nothing new for Sam Allardyce, it will not be easy to lift them out of the current position the Black Cats find themselves in.
2015 has produced some brilliant moments in the Premier League. Make sure you follow our website and stay up to date.