STADIUM OF LIGHT STUNNED: VIRGIL VAN DIJK HEADER ENDS SUNDERLAND’S UNBEATEN HOME RECORD
Liverpool ends Sunderland's unbeaten home record: Virgil van Dijk scores as the Reds move closer to Champions League spots.
Arne Slot says he’s not worried about his job depending on Liverpool making the Champions League this spring, but let’s be honest, he’d rather not find out the hard way.
From what we saw here, he probably won’t have to. Liverpool finally snapped Sunderland’s unbeaten home run in the Premier League this season. Now they’re just three points behind Manchester United in fourth and two behind Chelsea in fifth. Things are heating up.
Régis Le Bris’s Sunderland side put up a real fight. They’re smart, well-drilled, and hard to break down. Still, with Florian Wirtz running the show and growing in confidence, Liverpool edged it. Virgil van Dijk’s header from Mo Salah’s corner did the trick. The only sour note for Slot? Wataru Endo picked up a nasty-looking ankle injury.
The game started sslowly Both teams looked pretty cautious, especially with the rain hammering down at the Stadium of Light. No one wanted to make an early mistake, so the first half felt tense and cagey.
Liverpool had plenty of the ball but kept running into Sunderland’s organised defence. Around the half-hour mark, Wirtz finally broke through, taking a pass from Alex Mac Allister, settling himself, and firing from the edge of the box. Robin Roefs saved that one, then breathed a sigh of relief moments later when another Wirtz effort hit the post after Andy Robertson’s cross sliced open the defence.
Wirtz started pulling the strings more and more, and Salah kept giving Reinildo something to worry about. Le Bris had reason to look a bit nervous, but Sunderland weren’t just hanging on. Their attacking movement was tricky and unpredictable, and they stayed right in the contest.
Still, you could tell they missed their captain, Granit Xhaka. He’s usually their heartbeat, but with him out injured, Enzo Le Fée dropped back next to Noah Sadiki in midfield. Le Fée read the game beautifully and broke up attack after attack, just as Wirtz began showing why Slot wanted him from Leverkusen last summer.
Right before halftime, there was a brief VAR check for a possible penalty after Brian Brobbey tangled with Ibrahima Konaté in the box. Stockley Park saw nothing wrong, but Le Bris was clearly annoyed, waving at the referee about a shirt pull.
Maybe that frustration fired Sunderland up. They came out strong after the break, seeing more of the ball and making Liverpool look a bit sluggish. Passing was off, the tempo dropped, but Sunderland couldn’t really test Alisson except for a 25-yard blast from Trai Hume that whistled just wide.
Liverpool held out through a spell of heavy pressure almost as heavy as the rain pouring down outside. Dan Ballard made a crucial block to deny Wirtz, but you could feel a goal coming. And then it did: Salah whipped in a corner, Van Dijk powered in a header, and Habib Diarra helped it over the line.
There was a long delay after that as Endo went down in real pain, his ankle twisted badly. Medical staff gave him treatment, then stretchered him off. Joe Gomez came on to replace him. A rough end to Endo’s first Premier League start of the season.
After that, Konate handled Brobbey’s physical challenge, and Nordi Mukiele wasted Sunderland’s best late chance by firing wide after escaping Robertson. Le Bris threw on all his subs, but with Curtis Jones coming off the bench and helping Liverpool see things out, Slot’s team could finally relax. At the final whistle, they celebrated with hugs, some relief, some joy, and maybe a bit of hope for what’s next.
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Liverpool’s in a tight spot right now. After losing to Wolves at Molineux, they’re clinging to fifth place, usually good enough for a Champions League spot, but the cushion isn’t exactly comfortable. They’re just three points ahead of Chelsea, who still have a game in hand against Aston Villa. That race is heating up fast.
Virgil van Dijk summed it up pretty well: “Either we get it, and we deserve it, or we don’t get it, and we don’t deserve it. If you play for Liverpool, it’s always been like this. It’s down to us, together with our fans, to get the results we need to get into the Champions League.” He also mentioned that Arne Slot, the head coach, wasn’t exactly thrilled after the loss; “angry” was the word he used.
But it’s not just about pride or missing out on big European nights. There’s a lot of money on the line. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire pointed out that missing out on the Champions League could leave a big dent in Liverpool’s bank account, even if the club runs pretty sensibly these days.
UEFA’s numbers tell the story. Liverpool earned €98.1 million (£85.3 million/$114 million) just for reaching the last 16 of the 2024–25 Champions League. Compare that to the Europa League, where they only received €26.8 million (£23.3 million/$31.1 million) for reaching the quarterfinals last season. The gap is massive.
Even winning the lesser European trophies doesn’t come close. Tottenham got €41.4 million (£36 million/$48.1 million) for winning the Europa League, and Chelsea picked up €21.8 million (£20 million/$26.7 million) for the Conference League. It’s nowhere near what Champions League teams bring home.
Maguire also pointed out the other hits: fewer home match days, less broadcast cash, and sponsors that pay out less when the club misses the top tier. He reckons missing out could cost Liverpool around £120 million ($160 million). Still, he doesn’t think it’ll sink the club.
And it’s not like Liverpool have been shy about spending. Last summer alone, they shelled out more than £400 million ($534.5 million) on big names like Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak – the biggest single-window spend in football history, actually.
Even with all that, Liverpool just reported record revenues of £703 million ($939 million) for the year ending May 2025, turning a modest £8 million ($10.7 million) profit. And here’s the kicker: despite that wild summer, Liverpool ranks only eighth in net transfer spend over the past five years. They’ve been splashing the cash, sure, but they’ve kept things balanced in the long run.
WHAT’S MISSING? WHY 16 GOALS AND 6 ASSISTS AREN'T ENOUGH FOR HUGO EKITIKE
Liverpool's top scorer Hugo Ekitike reflects on a massive win at Anfield and explains why he’s still hungry for more goals.
Hugo Ekitike isn’t exactly thrilled with his goal tally for Liverpool this season, even though he’s still leading the pack as the club’s top scorer.
He got his 16th goal of the season on Saturday, kicking things off in Liverpool’s 5-2 win over West Ham at Anfield. Not bad for his debut year. Plus, the 23-year-old, who came over from Eintracht Frankfurt last summer for up to £79 million, set up two more goals for Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo. That puts him at 22 goal involvements so far.
Still, Ekitike thinks he’s got a lot more to give. He missed solid chances against Nottingham Forest, Sunderland, and Manchester City recently, and that’s still bugging him.
“To be honest, I could score more,” he said. “I’m not that happy! But it’s not just about goals; it’s assists too. On Saturday, I set up one or two. As long as I’m helping the team and being involved, that’s what really matters. I want to win, so in that way, I’m happy.
“Obviously, I can improve. I could’ve scored in those last games; I had some good chances. So I’ll keep working. I want to be the best I can for the team, because I know I can do more.
“It’s all about learning and getting better. I’ll try to step it up in the next games, score more, and get involved even more.”
His goal against West Ham came after Liverpool kept the pressure on from a corner. Four of their goals that day came straight from, or just after, set pieces.
“We had some problems at the start of the season,” Ekitike said about Liverpool’s set-piece struggles. “We’ve all talked about it and worked on it together in training. It’s great to see it paying off now. We deserved it; honestly, we’ve put a lot of work into this.”
Saturday was the first of seven huge games in just over three weeks. Liverpool were up 3-0 at halftime, but West Ham didn’t just roll over; they made Liverpool work for it in the second half, fighting to stay out of the relegation zone.
Talking to liverpoolfc.com, Ekitike said, “Scoring early in games like that helps, for the team and for the fans. You feel more confident. And going in at halftime 3-0 up, that’s always good.
“But they showed it’s not over till it’s over, they fought back, and we let a couple in. When that happens, you have to score more, and we did. We got five.
“We’ve got to keep going, because there’s a long way left in the season. But yeah, I’m really happy. That win mattered.”
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