Liverpool escape with a draw to avoid another defeat

Liverpool narrowly avoided yet another defeat after snatching a hard-fought 1–1 draw at home against Sunderland in Match week 14 of the Premier League.

The defending champions have recently endured their worst run of results in more than 70 years. After beating West Ham United 2–0 last Sunday, they stumbled again, remaining eighth in the table with 22 points — 11 behind leaders Arsenal.

Liverpool were spared a tenth defeat in their last 14 matches across all competitions thanks to a late equalizer against a Sunderland side that entered the match one point ahead of them in sixth place.

Sunderland were the better side for much of the contest and came close to securing their first win at Anfield since 1983. They took the lead in the 67th minute through Chamseddine Talbi, who capitalized on a mistake by Virgil van Dijk before firing a shot that deflected off the Dutchman and wrong-footed goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

But Germany’s Florian Wirtz rescued Liverpool in the 81st minute, dribbling past two Sunderland defenders before unleashing a powerful strike that deflected off French defender Nordi Mukiele and into the net.

Salah left out

The biggest surprise before kick-off was manager Arne Slot’s decision to leave Egyptian star Mohamed Salah out of Liverpool’s starting XI for the second match in a row. Salah came on at halftime and immediately injected pace and urgency into a team that had looked flat in the opening period.

Slot said afterward: “It was a match where we didn’t concede many chances, but we didn’t create a lot either. We were unlucky with the goal — the deflection could have gone anywhere, but unfortunately it went in.”

He continued: “We tried everything to score the winner, but we were also fortunate at the end,” referring to Wilson Isidor’s stoppage-time chance when he rounded Alisson on a fast break, only for Federico Chiesa to make a dramatic goal-line clearance.

Wirtz told the broadcasters: “We wanted the win, but luck wasn’t on our side. We’re on the right path, working hard to get back to winning ways. We want to be at the top of the table, so we need to keep pushing.”

Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris said: “I’m not disappointed, to be honest. It’s a good point, especially at this stadium — it’s an honour to play here.”

He added: “We played our style and I’m pleased with the first half. Even at halftime we spoke about giving more because we played well, but perhaps the confidence was missing in front of goal. We managed to fix that in the second half.”