40 Sunderland v LFC facts
Here are all the pre-match facts and stats courtesy of LFC encyclopaedia Ged Rea.
Head to head (league only):
At Sunderland: Liverpool 29 wins, Sunderland 32 wins, 13 draws.
Overall: Liverpool 66 wins, Sunderland 50 wins, 33 draws.
On the opening day of this season the sides drew 1-1 at Anfield. After missing a penalty on seven minutes Luis Suarez opened the scoring five minutes later. However, Sebastian Larsson equalised for the visitors 12 minutes into the second half.
That header from Suarez was the first goal of the 2011-12 Premier League season and was the 250th scored by the Reds in league football against Sunderland.
The last clash at the Stadium of Light saw Liverpool win 2-0 in March. Dirk Kuyt scored a first half penalty with Suarez clinching the points with his first goal away from Anfield.
Sunderland finished the game with 10 men following the sending off of John Mensah, though this was later rescinded.
That win on Wearside saw Kenny Dalglish record his 250th league win as a manager in England (with Liverpool, Blackburn and Newcastle).
In the 21 Premiership games between the clubs, Liverpool have won 12, drawn seven and lost two.
The last hat-trick from a Liverpool player against the Black Cats was by Roger Hunt at Anfield in February 1966.
The last Liverpool hat-trick at Sunderland was scored by Joe Hewitt on New Year's Day 1909.
Jay Spearing made his Liverpool debut against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in October 2009.
Liverpool have suffered only two defeats at Sunderland in the last 26 league meetings going back to 1959. They have won 16 and drawn eight.
In the last 54 league games home and away Sunderland have won only four times.
Liverpool have conceded only seven goals in their last 19 league visits to Sunderland, keeping 14 clean sheets in the process.
The last Liverpool player sent off in this fixture was Momo Sissoko, dismissed for two yellow card offences in November 2005.
Liverpool's biggest wins at Sunderland came in January 1909, December 1946 and August 1961 when they won 4-1.
The Reds' heaviest defeat at Sunderland saw them lose 7-0 in December 1912.
Liverpool have scored in 11 of the last 12 league visits to Wearside.
Jordan Henderson scored four league goals in 71 games for Sunderland and five in 79 in all competitions. He made more league appearances for the Black Cats than any other player last season, playing 37 of the 38 games.
Stewart Downing played seven games on loan at Sunderland in 2003-04 in the second tier - scoring three times.
On the opening day of the season Henderson, Downing, Charlie Adam and Jose Enrique made their Liverpool debuts while Wes Brown, Larsson, David Vaughan and Ji Dong-Won played for Black Cats for the first time.
When failing to score from the spot against Arsenal last Saturday Liverpool equalled the club record of six penalty misses in a season (excluding shoot-outs) previously set in 1963-64 and 1972-73.
Liverpool have won two of their last 10 league games since recording a 2-0 win at Aston Villa just before Christmas.
Six of the Reds' 10 Premier League clean sheets have come away from home.
Away from home they have won once in the last five in the league - at Wolves at the end of January (3-0).
Sunderland have scored just one goal in the last five home meetings with the Reds.
The last seven league meetings on this ground have produced a win - five for Liverpool.
A Sunderland win will take them to within two points of Liverpool.
Martin O'Neill was appointed as Sunderland manager at the beginning of December. Since he officially took charge they have lost just four of the 17 games played in league and cup, winning 10.
Against Liverpool he has won five of 16 league games during his managerial career with Leicester City and Aston Villa.
In the Premier League Sunderland have picked up 23 points out of a possible 39 under Martin O'Neill. When Steve Bruce was dismissed the Black Cats had 11 points from 13 games.
They have lost only one of the last six league games at home - beaten 2-1 by Arsenal last month after leading with 15 minutes to go.
Of their 13 home league games this season they have won five, drawn four and lost four. The four defeats have come at the hands of Newcastle, Chelsea, Wigan and Arsenal.
The Black Cats became the last of the 20 Premier League clubs to score a penalty this season when Nicklas Bendtner scored from the spot in the 1-1 draw at Newcastle last Saturday.
All of Sunderland's three red cards this season have been awarded against Newcastle, with leading scorer Stephane Sessegnon and captain Lee Cattermole sent off six days ago.
Sessegnon will miss his first game of the season through the resulting suspension.
Sunderland defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos played 30 times in the Premier League for Liverpool, scoring three times.
Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has kept seven clean sheets in his 19 league games this season. He saved a Demba Ba penalty at St James' Park last weekend.
Sunderland have failed to score in only two of the last 15 games in all competitions.
The last Sunderland player to score a hat-trick against Liverpool was Bobby Gurney in 1936-37. With 19 goals he is the leading scorer in the league against Liverpool with one club.
Scorers this season (league in brackets):
Liverpool: Suarez 10 (6), Bellamy 9 (6), Carroll 6 (3), Gerrard 6 (2), Kuyt 4 (1), Maxi 4 (2), Skrtel 4 (2), Adam 2 (2), Agger 1 (0), Downing 1 (0), Henderson 1 (1), Johnson 1 (1), Kelly 1 (0), Shelvey 1 (0), own goals 6 (4).
Sunderland: Sessegnon 7 (6), Larsson 6 (5), Bendtner 4 (4), McClean 4 (3), Gardner 3 (3), Campbell 2 (1), Colback 2 (1), Ji Dong-Won 2 (2), Richardson 3 (2), Vaughan 2 (2), Bramble 1 (1), Brown 1 (1), Elmohamady 1 (1), Wickham 1 (1), own goals 3 (2).