After a hard-fought win against Manchester City, Liverpool failed to carry on their momentum just two days later, drawing 2-2 at the Stadium of Light.
Jürgen Klopp had a chance to rotate his squad to keep them fresh for the last game of the festive period or have faith in the players who ran themselves ragged at the weekend; in the end he chose to stick when he maybe should have twisted.
A good opening goal by Daniel Sturridge was quickly wiped out by a sloppy penalty given away in the first half. The Reds got themselves up and worked the Sunderland defence to get another, only to fall victim to their own mistakes and give away another penalty.
Too many times do Liverpool shoot themselves in the foot. Yes, they created chance after chance and their goalkeeper decided to have a worldie, but conceding two penalties in the same match is simply not good enough.
The failed to put pressure on Chelsea, but to look on the bright side, they have 44 points in 20 games and are still second in the table – as long as the Reds remain there or thereabouts for the rest of the season, they have a chance.
Anyway, here are my player ratings from the match:
