‘Tipping them to lose…’ – Chris Sutton makes tentative Liverpool v Sunderland prediction | OneFootball

Chris Sutton is predicting a decisive result between Liverpool and Sunderland on Wednesday night, albeit without any great conviction.

Prior to the first games in matchweek 14 of the Premier League tonight, the Reds are actually two places and one point behind the Black Cats, with both teams confounding pre-season expectations in rather contrasting ways.

The reigning champions arrested a dismal three-match losing streak with victory away to West Ham at the weekend, and the onus will be on them to back it up with a repeat result against Regis Le Bris’ team at Anfield.

(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

What has Sutton predicted for Liverpool v Sunderland?

In his latest Premier League predictions feature for BBC Sport, Sutton has predicted a 2-1 victory for Liverpool, but with the caveat that he wouldn’t be surprised if the result went the other way.

The former Chelsea and Blackburn striker wrote: ‘I got Liverpool wrong at the weekend because I thought they would lose at West Ham…I was wrong about Sunderland too, but that won’t surprise anyone.

‘We are at the stage where I am thinking should I do Black Cats fans a favour by tipping them to lose again here, because we know what happens when I do that – they win.

‘I actually think they will give a good account of themselves at Anfield and it would not surprise me at all to see them going there and winning – I really mean that, too, because we’ve all seen how capable Regis Le Bris’ side are.

‘I am still going to go with Liverpool though. I don’t think they can be as bad as they were in their last two home games, against Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven.’

(Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Which version of Liverpool will turn up tomorrow night?

Sutton’s hesitant vote for a Liverpool win is understandable – the Reds have been irritatingly Jekyll-and-Hyde so far this season.

Two of Europe’s best teams in Arsenal and Real Madrid have been slain at Anfield, but a Forest side currently sitting 16th in the Premier League went there and won by three goals, as did a decent but not world-beating PSV outfit.

Sunderland have pulled off some standout results of their own as well, winning at Stamford Bridge and claiming a well-deserved point against the table-topping Gunners, and they’ll go to Merseyside knowing that all the pressure is on the hosts to win.

Arne Slot’s team selection for this game will be intriguing. Does he stick with the formula which worked against West Ham and leave out Mo Salah once more, or does he feel a need to rotate given the tight turnaround between matches at the beginning of this month?

The shackles should hopefully now be off for Alexander Isak after finally netting his first Premier League goal for Liverpool on Sunday, and if Florian Wirtz can repeat the levels that he displayed at the weekend, the Reds’ quality should prevail.

Like Sutton, though, we’re giving a narrow vote of confidence to the champions rather than a resounding one, given how excellent Sunderland have been performing on their return to the top flight.

You can watch Slot’s full pre-Sunderland press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: