Sunderland Vs. Liverpool: Liverpool Win 2-0

It was a rough game for Sunderland as absolutely nothing went right at the Stadium of Light. Both Sully Muntari and Kieran Richardson were forced off with injuries inside the first thirty minutes of the match and then Kevin Friend literally added insult to injury by ruling that John Mensah's foul on Jay Spearing was inside, not outside the box, when in fact contact occurred nowhere near the penalty area. Dirk Kuyt stepped up to slot past Belgian keeper Simon Mingolet, and Liverpool led 1-0 going into the half.

Sunderland could have used their sense of injustice to fuel some sort of comeback, but the injuries continued to mount as Danny Welbeck had to leave the field for Ahmed Elmohamedy in the second half. Shortly thereafter, Liverpool went 2-0 up thanks to an absolutely wonder-hit from Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, who turned home from what looked like an impossible angle, sealing a win and three points for the visitors. Sunderland's Mensah was sent off for his second bookable offence shortly thereafter, although the call was (unsurprisingly) dubious.

Steve Bruce's Sunderland continue their long slide down the table while Liverpool cement their grip on 6th place and start to eye Tottenham Hotspur in 5th. At the end of the day, Liverpool's win was deserved, but the Black Cats were the victims of some hugely unfortunate luck all game at the Stadium of Light, and things might have gone very differently had they not lost three top players to injury and conceded that ludicrous penalty. The only blemish to Liverpool's day, on the other hand, was losing Suarez to an apparent groin injury very late in the match, although the striker was able to walk off under his own power.