Virgin van Dijk header gives Liverpool hard-earned victory at Sunderland

Virgil van Dijk’s second-half header saw Liverpool end Sunderland’s unbeaten Premier League run at home with a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light.

Florian Wirtz came closest to opening the scoring in the first half but his effort hit the post.

Liverpool did break the deadlock in the 61st minute when Van Dijk flicked home a header from Mohamed Salah’s corner.

The Reds then safely saw out the game to move three points away from the top four and end the Black Cats’ unbeaten run of 12 league games at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland made one change as deadline-day signing Nilson Angulo lined up for his full club debut and Liverpool made two changes, with Wataru Endo and Andy Robertson starting in place of Milos Kerkez and the suspended Dominik Szoboszlai.

The hosts enjoyed an energetic start as Alisson Becker made saves from Trai Hume’s cross and a deep free-kick into the area by Robin Roefs, but Liverpool began to grow into the game as the Black Cats cleared good deliveries into the area.

Following an even-paced opening, Sunderland broke when new signing Angulo played a pass into Nordi Mukiele on the right and the full-back whipped the ball into the box, but some good defending from Ibrahima Konate prevented Brian Brobbey from connecting.

A corner into the six-yard area was punched away by Roefs and Liverpool continued to send crosses into the box which were comfortably headed away by the hosts.

The Reds began to test Sunderland further as Wirtz’s shot from outside of the area was pushed clear by Roefs and Van Dijk headed over from the subsequent corner.

Wirtz hit the post with a low strike and a dangerous cross into the box on the break was nodded up in the air by Dan Ballard, but Wirtz’s resulting effort was pounced on by Roefs.

Angulo had a low shot comfortably saved by Alisson before the break and grew in influence in the early stages of the second half, playing Hume in for the Sunderland skipper to blast a shot over the bar.

Salah’s corner was tipped away by Roefs and the Reds looked to threaten again when a neat exchange between Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch saw the German’s resulting strike blocked by Ballard.

Mukiele latched onto a loose ball, charging down the right before firing wide of the upright and Liverpool broke at the opposite end when Salah’s shot was turned behind by Reinildo Mandava.

The visitors broke the deadlock when Salah’s corner was headed on by Van Dijk and the ball bounced off Habib Diarra’s head at the back post.

However, a concerning moment then saw Endo carried off on a stretcher after landing awkwardly and Joe Gomez came on to replace him in the 69th minute.

Salah’s cross was lifted over goal by Hugo Ekitike and at the opposite end Hume nodded over.

Ekitike was involved again after nodding just past the post from Robertson’s ball and Curtis Jones fired over the bar before Liverpool saw out seven minutes of additional time to seal three points.