Away At Sunderland

 This weekend is our annual trip to the Stadium Of Light, a fixture which we won 2-0 last season. I'll be honest, since Middlesbrough were relegated no Liverpool fixture excites me less than Sunderland away. I'm not sure what is is about the game, the empty seats, our usually dull away kits, the home side playing for a draw, the beach balls, it could be all manner of things but it's one of those matches I just want to get out of the way, would take a scrappy 1-0 win from and move on to the next game. We've had some decent and some shocking results there since the stadium was built and it's not an easy one to predict. Sunderland are missing a couple of regulars through suspension while we should only really have Lucas and Agger out so on paper we are favourites but it never works out as easily as it should.

 The team selection will be interesting but as it is away I would expect Kenny to pick Suarez up front on his own, the defence picks itself so that just leaves midfield. If Gerrard is ready to play 90 minutes it will probably be him alongside Adam and Henderson with any two from Kuyt, Downing and Bellamy playing wide. Kuyt and Downing have both been in improved form in recent games while Bellamy is a good experienced player to have in your side going into an away match such as this so it's not an easy selection but whoever the boss chooses is capable of delivering. We have a few players, Henderson, Downing, Carroll and Enrique with plenty of North East football behind them so this may influence the managers thinking but it was proved at Wembley sentiment isn't part of Kenny's first eleven choices so Carroll may well have to settle for a place on the bench again.

 Like I've said, I don't really like this fixture so I'd be happy to come out of it with no new injuries or suspensions ahead of Tuesday's derby and a sloppy 1-0 win but it would be nice to see some good football along the way. Going into the derby we need confidence in our play so a decent performance on Saturday is an important step. It's not often we have the opportunity to play for six points in the space of four days and two victories would help our league standing no end so let's hope we're well focused and we find our finishing boots and come home with all three points.