Liverpool’s big name, big money summer signings owed Arne Slot following poor starts to life at Anfield and, right on cue, Florian Wirtz delivered. A deflected shot from the potential £116m recruit spared the Premier League champions the ignominy of a 10th defeat in 14 games with a late equaliser against Sunderland, who will count this as an opportunity missed.
Chemsdine Talbi had set the in-form visitors on course for a first win at Anfield since 1983 before Wirtz levelled in style in the 81st minute. Sunderland substitute Wilson Isidor was close to restoring his side’s lead when rounding Alisson in stoppage time but a superb goalline clearance from striker Federico Chiesa salvaged a point for Liverpool.
Full time: Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland
Ekitike’s shot on the turn flies into the crowd, the last act of a hard-fought draw at Anfield. Chemsdine Talbi’s deflected shot put Sunderland ahead; Liverpool equalised when Florian Wirtz’s off-target effort flew into the net off Nordi Mukiele. They looked set to win it at the end but might have lost it when Wilson Isidor’s shot was cleared off the line by Federico Chiesa.
When the dust settles that will go down as another great night for Sunderland’s intrepid band of optimists.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 14 | 20 | 33 |
| 2 | Man City | 14 | 16 | 28 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 14 | 6 | 27 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 14 | 10 | 24 |
| 5 | Crystal Palace | 14 | 7 | 23 |
| 6 | Sunderland | 14 | 4 | 23 |
| 7 | Brighton | 14 | 4 | 22 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 14 | 0 | 22 |
| 9 | Man Utd | 13 | 1 | 21 |
| 10 | Everton | 14 | -2 | 21 |
| 11 | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 | 5 | 19 |
| 12 | Newcastle | 14 | 1 | 19 |
| 13 | Brentford | 14 | -1 | 19 |
| 14 | AFC Bournemouth | 14 | -3 | 19 |
| 15 | Fulham | 14 | -3 | 17 |
| 16 | Nottm Forest | 14 | -8 | 15 |
| 17 | Leeds | 14 | -10 | 14 |
| 18 | West Ham | 13 | -12 | 11 |
| 19 | Burnley | 14 | -13 | 10 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 14 | -22 | 2 |
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90+4 min: Off the line by Chiesa!
Roefs collects a cross and plays a fantastic pass straight downfield to put Isidor through on goal. He tries to go round Alisson, who forces him wide, and his eventual shot is cleared off the line by Chiesa!
That fabulous pass from Roefs was Sunderland’s first in almost 10 minutes. Isidior was onside as he ran from inside his own half, but Chiesa got back to deny him.
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90+3 min Sunderland’s last successful pass was in the 84th minute. That’s bonkers.
90+1 min: Sunderland substitution Luke O’Nien replaces the goalscorer Talbi.
90 min A Liverpool corner leads to more desperate defending – first to block a header from Van Dijk, then a follow-up shot by Salah. There will be seven minutes of added time. A Liverpool winner feels increasingly inevitable.
89 min Now Chiesa’s snapshot is blocked after a penetrative run infield by Salah.
88 min The indefatigable Szoboszlai has a shot blocked after running on to an excellent pass from Salah.
87 min Only one winner now, and it’s not Romania Sunderland. The ball has barely left their half since the equaliser.
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86 min: Double substitution for Liverpool Milos Kerkez and Federico Chiesa replace Andy Robertson and Alexander Isak.
85 min Replays show that Wirtz’s shot was going wide until it deflected off Mukiele, so the Liverpool equaliser has gone down as an own goal.
83 min At the other end Hume stands up a superb cross that is headed away brilliantly by Van Dijk under serious pressure.
Curtis Jones won the ball high up the field and stabbed it forward to Wirtz. He danced past two players before screwing a left-foot shot that took a big deflection off Mukiele and flew past Roefs.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Sunderland (Wirtz 82)
Florian Wirtz scores his first Premier League goal!
Edit: it has gone down as a Mukiele own goal (see 85 min).
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80 min: Sunderland substitution Lutsharel Geertruida replaces Enzo Le Fee.
79 min Liverpool’s last attempt on target was from Szoboszlai in the 43rd minute.
77 min “How is Isak still on the field?” writes Bill Muskett .”I’d forgotten he was playing.”
76 min Frustration at Anfield when Isak is penalised for pushing Ballard. Liverpool’s confidence is subterranean.
74 min: Liverpool substitution Hugo Ekitike comes on for Alexis Mac Allister.
72 min Mac Allister, 25 yards out, belts the ball into the crowd.
71 min This would be a 10th defeat in 14 games for Liverpool; that’s after they started the season with seven straight wins.
Oh and as things stand, Sunderland are fourth in the table.
69 min Sunderland appeal for a penalty when Ballard goes down in the area after a slight shove from Szoboszlai. Nothing much in that.
Ah, Talbi’s shot took a big deflection, but Sunderland won’t care. Van Dijk’s sloppy pass was collected by Le Fee, who quickly moved it forward to Talbi. He took a touch and whacked a shot from 25 yards that deflected off the rump of Van Dijk before spinning into the far corner.
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GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Sunderland (Talbi 67)
What a goal from Chemsdine Talbi!
65 min: Liverpool substitution With Liverpool having more of the ball, and needing to take some risks, Curtis Jones replaces Joe Gomez at right-back.
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64 min Liverpool have dominated possession in the second half. But Sunderland have settled into a low block and look relatively comfortable.
62 min: Sunderland substitution Wilson Isidor replaces Brian Brobbery who, in the parlance of our time, has a) put a shift in and b) been a handful.
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61 min: Alderete hits the post!
A fast, inswinging corner from Le Fee is met by Alderete, whose flicked header hits the outside of the near post with Alisson motionless!
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Premier League results
Arsenal 2-0 Brentford
Brighton 3-4 Aston Villa
Burnley 0-1 Crystal Palace
Wolves 0-1 Nottm Forest
60 min After excellent hold-up play from Brobbery, Talbi slips two players on the edge of the area and stabs a square pass that is cleared by Mac Allister.
59 min Szoboszlai, who looks the man most likely to make something happen, spanks wide from 25 yards.
58 min Salah’s deep corner is headed down, half cleared by Sunderland and then belted back towards goal by Salah. His shot is blocked.
58 min Still nothing between the teams really. Salah is starting to liven up and has combined niecly with Szoboszlai on two or three occasions.
56 min A break in play allows the TV director to show Sunderland legend Kevin Phillips in the away end.
55 min Gomez joins him for an inept/cynical sliding challenge from Reinildo, who would have been away on the left wing.
54 min Le Fee is booked for a cynical foul on Mac Allister.
50 min Liverpool keep the ball for a minute or so before a heavyish touch from Salah allows Reinildo to block his cross.
48 min A scruffy start to the second half. You’re welcome.
46 min And they’re off.
Mo Salah is coming on at half-time in place of Cody Gakpo. Florian Wirtz moves to the left wing and Dominik Szoboszlai to the No10 position.
“He’s waited so long,” says Peter Oh. “I’d love for him to score his first Liverpool goal today. Go on Joe Gomez!!”
“In football, confidence usually flows through the team from the back,” writes Kári Tulinius. “Forwards attack with abandon when they trust the defenecto handle it if they lose the ball. Even during their run of victories at the start of the season, they looked shaky at the back. When things started going wrong, it confirmed worries, rather than chipping away at belief.”
Those aren’t the lyrics to Parklife?
Half-time reading
It’s not football and I don’t care. This is a beautiful piece of writing from Tanya Aldred on my first sporting hero, who died on Monday aged just 62. RIP legend.
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Half time: Liverpool 0-0 Sunderland
No goals at Anfield; nothing much between the teams either. Both hit the woodwork, both had spells of relative dominance – but Sunderland looked the more relaxed and assured team.
45+1 min A Sunderland corner is half cleared to Talbi, who hooks a volley towards goal from 25 yards. It hits a defender, loops up in the air and is touched over the bar by Alisson. He probably could have caught it but we thought the same about Jordan Pickford all those years ago.
44 min: Mac Allister hits the post!
Reinildo is flattened after wearing a cross straight in the breadbasket. Play continues and Gomez curls an inviting early cross from the right; it’s met by Mac Allister, whose header beats Roefs and hits the outside the near post.
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43 min Wirtz cracks a nice early pass out to Gakpo on the left. He cuts inside, as pear, and tries a shot that is blocked at source on the edge of the area.
Seconds later, Szoboszlai wobbles an awkward long-range shot that is pushed over the bar by Roefs. The ball was moving in the air so he took no chances.
42 min “Liverpool are ponderous,” writes Joe Pearson. “They spend so much time walking. To this Liverpool fan, they have become a very hard watch. Where’s the pressure? Where’s the effort? Ugh.”
40 min Liverpool look totally bereft of confidence. It’s hard to believe that they have fallen so far, especially after winning the first five or six games of the season.
36 min Liverpool were having a good spell but Hume’s effort has changed the mood and now Sunderland have their strut back.
33 min: Hume hits the bar!
Trai Hume comes within inches of putting Sunderland ahead. He won the ball high up the field, zipped past Gravenberch and boomed a curling shot towards goal from 25 yards. Alisson tried to punch clear with both hands, made a mess of it and inadvertently diverted the ball onto the bar.
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31 min Szoboszlai’s languid deep cross is headed back across goal by Gakpo and then up in the air by Hume. There are no Liverpool players lurking and Roefs is able to grab the ball.
30 min Liverpool are still a bit ponderous in possession but they look much better without the ball and have pinned Sunderland in their own half.
28 min A long-range shot from Alderete is saved easily by Alisson.
27 min “If the Ashes start at 5am, what time do England start playing in it?” says Ian Copestake. “Oooooh, burn.”
I’ll give you a burn, pal, if you persist with that schadenfreduian poppycock.
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26 min A stinger from Isak, 22 yards out, is blocked by a combination of Xhaka and Reinildo. Sunderland are struggling to get out.
25 min For the first time it feels like Liverpool are really on top in the game.
23 min: Just wide from Wirtz! Gravenberch, Wirtz and Szoboszlai combine nicely just outside the area. Wirtz takes advantage of a double ricochet to move through on goal, then stretches to stab a shot that is blocked by the outrushing Roefs. The ball rebounds off Wirtz and trickles just wide of the post. Some of the home fans thought it was in.
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19 min Isak zig-zags menacingly infield to the left edge of the box… and then blooters over the bar.
There’s no rhythm or pace in Liverpool’s play. Feels like a night when the first goal is especially important.
16 min Konate commits a naive foul on Brobbey, who has led the line majestically in the first 16 minutes. I didn’t realise this is his first start for Sunderland.
15 min “You should live in France,” says Richard Hirst. “The Ashes doesn’t start till 5am. Makes all the difference.”
Even when I’m going straight to bed after this game, which finishes an hour later in France?
The latest scores elsewhere
Arsenal 1-0 Brentford
Brighton 2-2 Aston Villa
Burnley 0-1 Crystal Palace
Leeds 1-0 Chelsea
Wolves 0-0 Nottm Forest
12 min There’s an eye-catching confidence to Sunderland’s play; in fact they’ve been much the better team so far. But they have to make hay while the iron’s hot.
10 min Cor, I wish I’d got my seven hours last night.
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9 min Szoboszlai pings a decent effort from 25 yards. Roefs skips across his line to make a comfortable save.
7 min Le Fee gets to the byline on the left and screws a cross that only just evades Brobbey at the near post. Sunderland have started excellently, breaking with purpose and menace every time they win the ball.
5 min Mukiele’s first long throw of the gmae is headed away by Van Dijk. The ball goes back to Mukiele, who blooters a cross straight out of play.
3 min A dangerous cross from Hume flashes across the face of the Liverpool goal. Brobbery was wiped out by Van Dijk just before that but the referee didn’t give a free-kick.
3 min Liverpool have started with Szoboszlai on the right, Gakpo on the left and Wirtz in the No10 role. The future is now.
1 min Liverpool kick off from right to left as we watch. They are in red; Sunderland are sporting their stylish Hummel change strip.
YNWA is being sung with the usual gusto at Anfield. The players on both sides look ready for business; let’s get it on.
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“I’m generally a fairly pessimistic fan,” writes – shock, horror – Matt Dony, “but even I’m not enough of an eejit to have foreseen this league table. (Well, yeah, maybe I am, but my eejit-hood is usually directed in other directions.) Sunderland have been tremendous, and no one can argue that they don’t deserve their league position. I hope they carry on at this pace. Apart from tonight. It would be a good time for Wirtz and Isak to put it all together and cause havoc. In other pessimistic-fan news, planning on powering through the night, Rob?”
I didn’t get much sleep last night, thanks to the selfish imperatives of a complete eejit, so I’ll be grabbing as much as possible between 11pm and 4am.
“Evening, Rob,” writes Ian Copestake. “Am sitting not far from the ground but thankfully encased in a bungalow. Wouldn’t like to get a casey on the thigh tonight. Glad also that Arne has coped so well with his unease at dropping Mo by doing it again.”
When the Independent Office for Police Conduct published the final report on its mammoth investigation into the Hillsborough disaster, the response from bereaved families and survivors was conflicted.
Some of the IOPC’s findings could be regarded as historic, in particular that 12 former officers would have had cases to answer for gross misconduct, including Peter Wright, the chief constable of South Yorkshire police at the time of the 1989 disaster.
But the passage of time, 36 years, since the alleged failings is so great that all the officers have long retired – or, like Wright, are dead – meaning nobody will face any disciplinary proceedings.
The report ends the decades of inquiries, investigations and a generational fight for justice, with the conclusion that 97 people were unlawfully killed, but nobody has been held accountable.
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Sunderland have not so much defied expectations as torn them to shreds. You have to go back 20 years to find a promoted side that has picked up as many points after 13 games – Wigan Athletic in the 2005-06 season. Newly promoted sides simply do not start like this anymore.
In fact, the three promoted teams in each of the last two seasons have all ended up facing relegation, and playoff winners fare even worse: seven of the last 11 clubs to come up via the playoffs have gone straight back down. Promoted clubs are supposed to wobble, scrap, cling on; Sunderland have politely declined that script.
Arne Slot has admitted feeling unease at dropping Mohamed Salah after the striker’s eight phenomenal seasons at Liverpool, and said he wants him “doing something special” on the pitch rather than sitting miserably on the bench.
Omitting Salah was Slot’s big call at West Ham on Sunday when the Liverpool head coach found a solution to the Premier League champions’ dismal run of results. The Egypt international, who will depart for the Africa Cup of Nations on 15 December, has struggled to hit his customary heights this season and is not guaranteed to return against Sunderland at Anfield on Wednesday.
Team news
Mo Salah is again on the bench for Liverpool, who make one change to the side that won at West Ham: Andy Robertson is in for Milos Kerkez at left-back.
Sunderland switch to a back five, with two changes to the side that started against Bournemouth on Saturday. Trai Hume and Brian Brobbey come in for Bertrand Traore and Wilson Isidor.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1) Alisson; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Gakpo; Isak.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Endo, Kerkez, Salah, Chiesa, Jones, Ekitike, Nyoni, Ngumoha.
Sunderland (5-2-2-1) Roefs; Hume, Mukiele, Ballard, Alderete, Reinildo; Xhaka Sadiki; Le Fee, Talbi; Brobbey.
Subs: Patterson, O’Nien, Geertruida, Neil, Mundle, Adingra, Traore, Mayenda, Isidor.
Referee Stuart Attwell.
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There are five more Premier League games tonight, including the leaders Arsenal at home to Igor Thiago Team. You can follow those with Daniel Harris.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Liverpool v Sunderland at Anfield. Who’d have thought, when the fixture list was released in the summer, that Sunderland would be above Liverpool going into this game? An eejit, that’s who, or somebody who time travelled back from the future with a copy of the Utilita Fotball Yearbook 2026-27.
There are two sides to this unlikely story. Liverpool’s form collapsed after a perfect start to the season; Sunderland started brilliantly and have maintained that level. They’ve already had some famous results, including victory at Stamford Bridge, but a first win at Anfield since 1983 would top the lot.
Kick off 8.15pm.
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