Liverpool v Sunderland: Wearsiders on for Anfield point

Liverpool’s patchy home form gives Sunderland every chance of improving their solid recent record at Anfield where they are looking to avoid defeat for the third straight visit.

In their last five meetings home and away with the Merseyside giants, Martin O’Neill’s men have come up short just once and, with a recent upturn in their on-pitch fortunes, a price of 167/100 for them to avoid defeat again here doesn’t look too shabby.

They can be backed at 6/1 to win the game outright, while the draw is available at 10/3 for all those keen on opposing Liverpool’s 4/9 favouritism.

Normally this would not be advised as a sensible course of action given the hosts won 4-0 in their last outing at home. This was their third victory without concession in four matches on their own patch, yet Aston Villa’s surprise victory here should instill belief in Black Cats backers.

The Villans soundly beat Liverpool 3-1 on that day which represented the sixth time that the hosts have failed to win at Anfield in the Premier League this season.

This far from stellar home record is compounded by the fact that they have only scored more than once three times in 10 league attempts in front of their own fans. This makes their price of 11/8 to register fewer than 1.5 goals well worth a dabble.

At 7/2, one of the best value bets on this clash between two underachieving sides is the draw with less than 2.5 goals scored in the match.

Six of Sunderland’s seven draws this season would have resulted in this wager paying out, whereas four of Liverpool’s last seven at home have yielded fewer than 2.5 goals.

With goals expected to be at a premium, the Reds will once again be relying on their Uruguayan hitman Luis Suarez to get the job done. He’s got three in as many games making him 11/4 favourite to open the scoring here and add to his three goals in four appearances against the Wearsiders.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date