Luis Suarez marked his return to Premier
League action with two goals to help Liverpool
to a 3-1 win at managerless Sunderland that
lifted them to second in the table on Sunday.
The Uruguay striker, who returned from a 10-
match ban for biting in the midweek League
Cup loss at Manchester United, was making his
first league appearance since being suspended
for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in April.
He scored Liverpool's second in the 36th
minute after Daniel Sturridge had opened their
account eight minutes earlier with a
controversial goal that went in off his upper
arm after he had risen to try to head in a
corner.
Sunderland, bottom of the table with one
point, got themselves back into the game early
in the second half when Emanuele Giaccherini
pounced after keeper Simon Mignolet failed to
deal with Ki Sung-Yeung's long-range effort.
Suarez had to wait until the 89th minute for
his second goal and it was Sturridge again who
set him up for a simple finish that sealed
Liverpool's fourth league victory of the season.
The win put them on 13 points from six
games, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur on goal
difference and two points behind leaders
Arsenal.
Sunderland, who sacked Paolo Di Canio last
Sunday after a string of poor results and media
reports of dressing-room unrest because of his
abrasive management style, started brightly
and Seb Larsson hit the bar with a 24th-minute
free kick.
Despite an apparent improvement in both
performance and spirits under their caretaker
manager and former club captain Kevin Ball,
the sign that it was not going to be their day
came four minutes later.
Sturridge's fifth league goal of the season will
draw plenty of complaints from Sunderland
even if none of their players protested at the
time when the England international converted
Steven Gerrard's corner with his arm.
There could be no argument over Liverpool's
second goal as Gerrard's superb long pass
picked out Sturridge on the right and the
striker burst into the area to put a perfectly
weighted ball across the goal for Suarez to tap
in.
POSING PROBLEMS
Sunderland were fired up in the second half
and soon after Adam Johnson shot wide, they
finally got on the scoresheet through
Giaccherini's quick thinking after Mignolet
could only push Ki's shot straight to him.
The hosts nearly drew level moments later
when Craig Gardner's shot from range forced
Mignolet into a superb save and they
continued to press hard.
Liverpool had chances to put the game out of
reach with Suarez posing plenty of problems
for Sunderland but it took until a minute from
time for them to re-establish their two-goal
advantage.
It was the result of a quick counter-attacking
move following a Sunderland corner with
Mignolet throwing the ball to Suarez, who ran
forward before finding Sturridge on the left
and the Englishman put the ball across goal for
Suarez to finish.
Earlier in the day, Jonny Howson struck the
first-half winner as Norwich City beat below-
par hosts Stoke City 1-0.
The visitors made their dominance count in the
34th minute when Howson's low, right-footed
shot beat diving keeper Asmir Begovic, who
should have done better, to give Norwich their
first away win of the league season.
Stoke were unlucky to have a penalty appeal
turned down early in the second half when
Kenwyne Jones went down after being tugged
by Leroy Fer, who gave a refreshingly honest
account of his actions.
"Yeah, I pulled his shirt...just a little bit," the
Norwich midfielder said after victory lifted his
team to 14th place, level with Stoke on seven
points from six matches.
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