Suarez and Sturridge Lift Liverpool Over Stoke City

 3-5 

Stoke City hosted Liverpool in a Sunday afternoon Premier League match-up that turned into an exciting shootout.  Liverpool are beginning to get some players back from injuries, most notably Steven Gerrard in the starting eleven and Daniel Sturridge first off the bench today.  Stoke featured a few former Liverpool players with Peter Crouch at forward and Charlie Adam behind him in midfield.

Liverpool caught a rather lucky break in the early moments of the game to take the lead.  Defender Cissokho stepped into a shot from 25 yards out with a half-volley.  The shot was heading wide, but Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross was in the ball's path and sent it into his own net off the deflection (5').

Liverpool then extended their lead following some sloppy Stoke defending.  A long ball forward by Martin Skrtel could have been cleared by defender Marc Wilson, but he instead chose to head the ball back to his keeper.  The pass was short and Luis Suarez was lurking in the area.  Shawcross came over to clear, but he ended up just getting in the way of the keeper and Suarez got a free shot for the second goal (32').

Stoke were persistant and got a ton of crosses into the box both from play and set-pieces.  Late in the first-half that persistance paid off and Crouch got his team back in the match.  Winger Arnautović delivered the cross to Crouch who finished with a near-post header (39').  Then right before half-time Stoke equalized with a scorching shot from Charlie Adam.  Henderson gave it away for Liverpool and Adam had a free shot from the edge of the box that found the net (45').

Liverpool were not shaken by losing the lead and came out in the second-half will the same confidence they had in the first-half.  Raheem Sterling won a penalty for Liverpool when he made a break in the Stoke box.  Defender Wilson bumped him to draw the foul and Gerrard finished from the spot (51').  Now back in front, Liverpool decided to bring in Daniel Sturridge who has been out injured for some time.  Sturridge did very well in his return and in the time he was on the field he got an assist and a goal.

Sturridge setup Suarez when his run attracted two defenders leaving Suarez unmarked.  Sturridge picked Suarez out with a simple pass and the striker finished his second of the day (71').  Stoke hung around and scored one more goal to close the gap back down to one.  Jonathan Walters found space in front of goal and shook centerback Kolo Touré before beating the keeper (85').

Liverpool did not let Stoke get further back into the game and scored a final goal to ensure the win.  Sturridge got two chances to score and finished the second.  A cross from Suarez gave him a chance at the far-post, but keeper Butland denied Sturridge.  The block was kept in play though, and Sturridge finished the second chance effort (87').

With this win Liverpool move back into the top-four.  The last few matches were tough for the Red as they lost points to Chelsea and Manchester City.  With Gerrard and Sturridge back in the line-up, Liverpool are far more formidable and have a chance to climb further up the table.  Stoke travel to Crystal Palace for their next league match while Liverpool host Aston Villa.