Sunderland v Liverpool
Premier League; Saturday 10th March, 3pm
Liverpool travel to the North East to face Sunderland in the Premier League this Saturday in a rare 3pm kick off for the Reds.
The Black Cats have been rejuvenated under Martin O’Neill but have key men in captain Lee Cattermole and forward Stéphane Sessègnon out suspended for this match.
EA Sports Player Performance Index Stats
• Sunderland host Liverpool fresh off the back of a hot tempered derby against Newcastle in their last Barclays Premier League game
• Craig Gardner covered the most ground for Sunderland in that game with 5.22 miles, taking his total for the season to 73.42 miles
• Nicklas Bendtner scored from the spot in that game, while Stephane Sessegnon was sent off with half an hour remaining and Lee Cattermole joined him with a straight red after the final whistle
• According to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, Sessegnon has covered more ground than any other Sunderland player this season with 145.7 miles
• Simon Mignolet pulled off two great saves late on to preserve the Black Cats lead, including saving a Demba Ba penalty, but was unable to stop Shola Ameobi’s eventual equaliser
• Mignolet has made 87 saves this season, averaging 4.5 per game
• Liverpool were the victims of a resurgent Arsenal side in their last Barclays Premier League game, losing 2-1
• A Jordan Henderson cross forced Koscielney into an own goal
• Both Luis Suarez and Dirk Kuyt hit the post and were unlucky not to get on the score sheet. Suarez has had 38 shots off target this season, the third highest in the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. Suarez’s shots on target percentage, however, is just 53%, much lower than the two players to have had more shots off target than him (van Persie – 43 shots off target and an on target percentage of 62%, and Clint Dempsey – 39 shots off target and an on target percentage of 62%)
• Suarez has also converted just 7% of his shots to goals, compared to league top scorer Robin van Persie’s 22% conversion
• Kuyt has just one Barclays Premier League goal to his name this season, from 31 shots at goal with 54% on target, a conversion rate of just 3% of shots hitting the back of the net
• Charlie Adam covered the most ground for Liverpool against Arsenal with 7.07 miles, taking his total for the season to 149.4 miles, more than any other Liverpool player
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