Sunderland vs Liverpool - Live on ESPN
Can Liverpool avoid their worst start in 100 years?
Team News New signing Adam Johnson is a doubt for Sunderland. The former Manchester City midfielder missed England's last two World Cup Qualifiers with a thigh injury and is still battling for fitness. Danny Rose could however make his Black Cats debut. He signed for Sunderland from Tottenham on a season long loan in what was a pretty busy summer of dealings for manager Martin O'Neill. Left back Jose Enrique is Liverpool's only injury concern. The Spaniard will have his knee injury assessed before the game and could yet be passed fit. Midfielder Joe Allen has recovered from the illness that ruled him out of International contention this week. Match Preview You've all heard the statistic - this is Liverpool's worst start to a season in fifty years. But here's another one. Lose this afternoon and it will be the Red's worst start to a season in over a hundred years. In the 1903/04 season, Liverpool lost all four of their opening league games, finished seventeenth and were relegated from the old Division One. Liverpool are eighteenth at the moment, and will be looking to get their first three points on the board. To achieve that though, they face something of an uphill battle. Sunderland have lost only two of their last twelve home games, and those defeats came to Arsenal and Manchester United. Liverpool meanwhile have won only three of their last twelve away games. A statistic that does work in Liverpool's favour though is that Sunderland have not won their first home game of the season in any of the past four years, and have lost four of the last six visits between the two at the Stadium of Light. A win for Liverpool is almost imperative if they are to avoid chasing shadows in their bid to qualify for the Champions League this season, whilst Sunderland will be keen to put on a good performance in front of their home fans in what is their first home game of the season. Head to Head The Black Cats are without a win in their last 10 Premier League games - their worst run since November 2009-February 2010 when they were winless for 14 matches. The Reds have not failed to win one of their first four league games of a campaign since 1911-12, but have not scored away from home this season.