Black Cats come away from Reds with heads held high

FLORIAN Wirtz’s dancing feet helped to rescue a point for Liverpool but he was denied a first Premier League goal after his deflected strike went down as a Nordi Mukiele own goal.

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The Germany international waltzed past a couple of defenders before firing home via a deflection nine minutes from time to make it 1-1 and spare head coach Arne Slot more scrutiny after he left out Mohamed Salah for successive league matches for the first time in his Liverpool career.

Sunderland looked like pulling off a first win at Anfield in 42 years through Chemsdine Talbi’s iong-range effort in the 67th minute - a goal fully appreciated by former Black Cats striker Kevin Phillips as he celebrated with fans in the away end.

But Wirtz, who impressed in Sunday’s win at West Ham, is starting to find his feet and he skipped through the Sunderland defence to earn his side a point in front of the Kop.