Djibril Cissé

By The Black Cats
March 3 2009

Sunderland head to Liverpool tonight for an evening kick off at Anfield against. Sunderland, having gained a point at one of the so called 'Big Four' teams Arsenal in their last game will be looking to reproduce the feat or even go one better.

However, after Sunderland's local rivals Middlesbrough beating Liverpool by two goals to nil at the weekend Rafael Benitez's men will have something to prove, which can only make the Wearsider's job harder.

Let's just hope that 'boro haven't opened the hornets nest.

Boss Ricky Sbragia has hnited that he will go with teh same formation, 4-5-1, that he was forced into using at Arsenal.

However this time he has a selection problem if he goes with the lone striker as Cissé and Kenwyne Jones are both fully fit.

Sbragia said: "He (Cisse) has been training for about five days now, and Kenwyne trained on Friday and Saturday, so we face a bit of a dilemma for tomorrow night now.

And Cissé, if picked, will make his 300th career appearance, and who better for it to be against than one of his old clubs.

"We have to have a game plan and it's up to teams to break us down. Arsenal didn't do that, but we know it's going to be difficult at Liverpool.

"We have to make it difficult for them and get points on the board. We can't go to the big four and expect to play openly and play the game they want us to play.

"I watched Liverpool on Saturday and they created three or four good chances early doors, but if you're not clinical enough you tend to get punished, and Middlesbrough did that on the set-plays.

"But they're a very good team, with a lot of good movement, and on the day they will have been disappointed to lose the game.

"They're still chasing Manchester United, it will be difficult for them but there's always a chance."

Steed Malbranque (calf) and Teemu Tainio (knee) are hopeful of being available after picking up slight injuries at Arsenal, while Phil Bardsley is back from suspension.

However, centre-back Nyron Nosworthy is still out with a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, Fernando Torres has been ruled out of tomorrow's game with an ankle injury, but Steven Gerrard is expected to start.

Rafa Benitez has also confirmed he will be without Alvaro Arbeloa (hamstring) and Daniel Agger (back) on Tuesday night.

Just like in the Arsenal game Liverpool are beatable and many Black Cats fans will be disappointed not to get at least a point from the encounter.