Liverpool team vs Sunderland confirmed as Wataru Endo and Curtis Jones decisions confirmed

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has confirmed his starting XI to take on Sunderland in the Premier League, with decisions on Wataru Endo and Curtis Jones confirmed

Liverpool duo Wataru Endo and Florian Wirtz.(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Wataru Endo is the man chosen to play right-back for Liverpool against Sunderland, with Dominik Szoboszlai suspended and Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley both sidelined through injury.

Alisson Becker makes his 250th league start for the Reds at the Stadium of Light, with Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson making up the rest of the back four. Joe Gomez is fit enough to return to the bench after the injury he sustained at Bournemouth last month.

Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister are in midfield, with Mohamed Salah, Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike making up the rest of the starting XI. Curtis Jones is available from the bench alongside the likes of Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha.

"I think in the end, [it's] my personal opinion and maybe also a few others agree with me, it's that we didn't deserve to lose [against Manchester City at the weekend]," Wirtz told the Reds' official website ahead of the game.

"We made a good game. Of course, in the first half we didn't have that much control, but we also didn't concede a lot of chances against us.

"I think we made a quite good game, [won] a lot of duels, especially the second half was good from us. We put pressure on a top team, and I think that we can see that we are in the same [level] and that we compete with top teams.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot(Image: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)

"That's what we can take from the game and also [it] gives us [confidence] for the rest of the season [that] we know that we can hurt every team. Against Sunderland, it's not an easy game now, but we just try to give everything again.

"We know it's going to be physical, so we just try to bring 100 per cent on the pitch until the last minute and take hopefully the three points home."

Arne Slot admitted in his pre-match press conference that Liverpool would have to be "close to perfection" to secure Champions League soccer next season.

On Tuesday, both Manchester United and Chelsea, the teams that the Reds are chasing down, dropped points, making this a chance to tighten the race up that they cannot afford to miss.

"We also know that it's different when you are four points behind a team that's 18th or 19th in the league, because they usually don't pick up as many points as the number three, four or five picks up," Slot said.

"So, to close the gap of four or five points towards the number three, four or five that means you have to win a lot. And that's not what we've done this season a lot, so that's why that has to be better and we have to come close to perfection.

"Margins are indeed very small because seven minutes before the end [on Sunday] we thought we were five points behind [Manchester] City and five minutes later we were 11 points behind."

Liverpool starting XI: Alisson; Endo, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike. Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Ramsay, Kerkez, Jones, Nyoni, Chiesa, Morrison, Ngumoha.