Coach Klopp warns team not to take Sunderland lightly

Christian Benteke is in line to start after coming off the bench to score the only goal during the win over league leaders Leicester City on Boxing Day.

Sunderland will be hoping to avoid a fifth Premier League defeat on the trot when Liverpool visit the Stadium of Light on Wednesday.

Jurgen Klopp has claimed Liverpool are unable to stick to his philosophy on all occasions due to the English weather. “What we have to create is a stable level of performance”, he said.

The game with Leicester was the first time fans have seen the Henderson they have become accustomed to in recent seasons, and his return bodes well for the second half of the season. We have to change our kind of fighting for these balls, which is what we tried to do in the last game. We spoke about this and we did it. It was really good.

Sunderland entertain Liverpool in their final game of 2015 this evening looking to end an overwhelmingly miserable year on a high and close the seven-point gap now separating them from the safety zone. Saturday’s 1-0 win against a rampant Leicester side was, however, much improved and they’ll be confident of making it back-to-back wins this midweek.

“We always talk and always speak to Hendo and it’s up to him”, said Reds boss Klopp.

“There’s no reason to doubt the mentality of the team that they’ll maybe think “it’s only Sunderland” or anything like that”. “It’s always going to be tough to get three points and always be a battle”.

Sam Allardyce’s team have won just one of their last five games in the Premier League. They will go back to their roots.

However, the Belgian worldwide was quick to add that he wishes the Stadium of Light outfit attain a series of positive results which would help them to stay afloat in the division only after their clash with Liverpool later in the day. We know that, so we have to prepare ourselves in that kind of way every time the match is being played.

Sunderland will need to overcome huge odds against them at 5.00, while Liverpool are in the driver’s seat at 1.70 listed by bet365 Sports. Klopp has admitted it would take a “miracle” for Origi to recover from the hamstring injury he suffered during the Leicester contest and he is expected to join frontman Sturridge on the sidelines.

“City barely beat Swansea, and Chelsea had sacked (manager) Jose (Mourinho) and were low on confidence, but we made life extremely easy for both of those teams and that really worries me about our defensive resilience”.

Jordon Ibe has returned to training after illness, but fellow midfielder James Milner is still out with a calf injury.