Agger Starts on the Bench as Sako and Skrtel Feature Against Sunderland

As Liverpool look to get back to winning ways against Sunderland today, Brendan Rodgers has named an unchanged lineup from the one that crashed out of the Capital One Cup to Manchester United on Wednesday.

We knew yesterday that Daniel Agger was going to be a late fitness check, but todays match against Sunderland came too soon for a starting place for the Reds vice-captain. Mamadou Sakho and Martin Skrtel will start in the heart of the Reds defence with former Sunderland ‘keeper Simon Mignolet behind them. Kolo Toure and Jose Enrique have been given the nod on the flanks while Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson and Lucas occupy the midfield. On-loan Chelsea winger Victor Moses keeps his spot in the side, as does a less than fit Daniel Sturridge, and Luis Suarez will make his first Premier League appearance since completing his 10-match ban.

Sunderland caretaker manager Kevin Ball has made some changes since taking over for Paolo di Canio and we saw a number of recalls for players that were previously frozen out under the Italian — we’ll see the same today with Keiren Westwood in net, Craig Gardner, Jack Colback, John O’Shea, Carlos Cuéllar, Sebastian Larsson, Ki Sung-Yeung, Lee Cattermole, Adam Johnson, Emanuele Giaccherini and Jozy Altidore making up the Black Cats side.

Liverpool won’t be looking for any surprises against the bottom of the league side as they look to keep pace at the top of the table. After a run of 13 matches without a loss, the Reds were taken to the cleaners by Southampton last weekend; we saw a response against Manchester United midweek, but this will be the ideal match to get back on track.

Join us after the match for a full match review and other assorted goodies.