Sunderland vs Liverpool live: Latest score and updates after Jermain Defoe's penalty equaliser
A look ahead to the Premier League fixture at the Stadium of Light
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool can close the gap on league leaders Chelsea with victory over struggling Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Jurgen Klopp’s side appear to be the main challengers to Antonio Conte’s west London juggernaut and can go to within six points of the pacesetters on Monday.
Sunderland were woeful in their 4-1 defeat to Burnley on Saturday and increasingly seem doomed to life in the Championship next season.
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It’s a big game for…
Simon Mignolet: The Liverpool shot-stopper has been the subject of some criticism this season and will hope to silence his critics when he returns to the Stadium of Light.
Despite letting that Jon Walters header beat him at his near post against Stoke, the Belgian kept a clean sheet in the big match against Manchester City on New Year’s Eve.
Best stat…
9: Liverpool are unbeaten against Sunderland in nine games with the last time the Black Cats coming out on top being a 1-0 win in 2012.
Remember when…
Darren Bent scored the winner in a 1-0 win against Liverpool after getting a big hand by a very unusual object – a beachball.
The ball was thrown on to the pitch by a fan and diverted Bent’s shot past the helpless Pepe Reina in the Liverpool goal.
Prediction
Player to watch…
Adam Lallana: The attacking-midfielder looks invigorated this season, after taking him some while to settle on Merseyside.
Lallana is Liverpool’s second top goalscorer in the league this season, bagging seven goals but he’s also managed to rack up seven assists too, making him a pivotal member of this Liverpool side. Sunderland will have to prioritise keeping him quite to try to quell the visitors’ attacks.
Past three meetings…
Liverpool 2 (Origi, Milner) Sunderland 0
Premier League, November 2016
Liverpool 2 (Firmino, Lallana) Sunderland 2 (Johnson, Defoe)
Premier League, February 2016
Sunderland 0 Liverpool 1 (Benteke)
Premier League, December 2015
Form guide…
Sunderland: WLLWLL
Liverpool: LDWWWW
Vital information…
Kick-off time: 15:00
TV: Highlights on Match of the Day, BBC One, Monday 2 January 10.30pm
Odds…
Sunderland to win: 9/1
Liverpool to win: 7/20
Draw: 9/2
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of Monday's action in the Premier League.
Middlesbrough v Leicester – 3pm
Everton v Southampton – 3pm
Manchester City v Burnley – 3pm
Sunderland v Liverpool – 3pm
West Brom v Hull City – 3pm
West Ham v Manchester United – 5.15pm
The year 2016 will long be remembered by supporters of Leicester City and Middlesbrough for a league title and a promotion, one somewhat more unexpected that the other.
Twenty-seventeen begins with the pair meeting at the Riverside Stadium in today's early game, and team news is on the way.
Here's how the two sides line up on Teesside...
...and there are changes aplenty to consider. Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka makes five to the side that suffered late heartbreak at Old Trafford less than 48 hours ago. Out go Victor Valdes, Bernardo Espinosa, George Friend, Grant Leadbitter and Stewart Downing with Brad Guazan, Antonio Barragan, Fabio, Adam Clayton and Gaston Ramirez coming into the team.
Meanwhile, Claudio Ranieri also makes five changes to his Leicester City outfit. Following a 1-0 triumph over West Ham, the champions bring in Christian Fuchs, Andy King, Nampalys Mendy, Shinji Okazaki and Leonardo Ulloa as Ben Chilwell, Danny Drinkwater, Marc Albrighton, Demarai Gray and Islam Slimani drop out.
Middlesbrough: Guzan, Barragan, Chambers, Gibson, Fabio, Clayton, De Roon, Forshaw, Traore, Ramirez, Negredo
Subs: Konstantopoulos, Friend, Bernando, Leadbitter, Stuani, Downing, Rhodes
Leicester: Schmeichel, Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Fuchs, King, Amartey, Mendy, Mahrez, Okazaki, Ulloa
Subs: Zieler, Chilwell, Wasilewski, Musa, Albrighton, Hernandez, Gray
Referee: Robert Madley
After back-to-back away defeats in Lancashire, 16th-placed Middlesbrough could do with a return to winning ways in front of their own fans, but recent history is not on their side...
However, Leicester City are stuttering on the road. The Foxes are yet to win a single away match this season and another defeat today would mean the worst start to a campaign by the defending champions, usurping the Chelsea catastrophe of last year.
Three points for Boro would also see them leapfrog their opponents and move up to the mid-table comfort of 14th position.
It's all to play for and it starts in just 20 minutes from now.
The last time Middlesbrough beat Leicester City in the Premier League was back in March 2002 when Steve McClaren was in charge at the Riverside. Those were innocent times for the future England manager, a period long he would own an umbrella, learn to speak Dutch or had begun tapping up his own players.
The game finished 1-0. The scorer? It was a Frank Sinclair own-goal. Obviously.
Here come the two teams! Wes Morgan and Ben Gibson lead their sides out to greet a bustling crowd inside the Riverside Stadium. Sunshine floods one half of the stadium, but this is the north-east - I'd wager it's still blisteringly cold.
KICK-OFF: And we're off! The second half of the Premier League season starts here, Sky Sports' Ian Crocker informs us, as Middlesbrough get the game up and running. The initial talking point is the way in which Leicester are lining up; a rare departure from their trusted 4-4-2 formation sees Mahrez behind Ulloa and Okazaki with three in the midfield. Will it pay dividends? Stay with us to find out.
4 mins: A first flash of excitement. Adama Traore uses his electric pace to burst past Christian Fuchs on the right-flank but just as the winger looks set to deliver a cross into the area, he slips and allows the ball to bobble out of play for a goal-kick. Moments later, Gaston Ramirez looks to make inroads down the other side, but the Uruguayan too miscontrols at the vital moment.
8 mins: Now it's Leicester's turn to press. The Foxes break forward at pace after Middlesbrough's midfield are caught in possession, and although Okazaki makes a meal of his involvement, Christian Fuchs isn't so slack. Taking on the ball first time, the left back strikes for goal from 22 yards out, but his searing shot travels just wide of Brad Guzan's left post.
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