Virgil van Dijk's header earned Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Sunderland, getting them back on track in their push for a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Liverpool suffered a heartbreaking late defeat to Manchester City last time out, but have now moved within three points of the Champions League places.

Captain Van Dijk got the decisive goal in the 61st minute, heading home from Mohamed Salah's inswinging corner to end Sunderland's unbeaten record at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland may have gone ahead early on, with Brian Brobbey seeing his first-time effort blocked by Ibrahima Konate before Florian Wirtz sparked the visitors to life.

Wirtz struck the foot of the far post through a crowded box, with that chance sandwiched between two fine stops from Robin Roefs to deny the German international.

Though Sunderland made a bright start to the second half, Liverpool eventually found the breakthrough just after the hour, with Habib Diarra unable to keep out Van Dijk's header.

Hugo Ekitike's downward header bounced agonisingly wide before Salah bent a stoppage-time strike just past the post, but Liverpool were not made to rue those missed chances.

Data Debrief: Liverpool breach Sunderland's fortress

Sunderland have lost their first home match across all competitions since May 2025 (0-1 v QPR), putting an end to a 14-match unbeaten run at their home ground.

But it maybe should not be a surprise, as Liverpool are now unbeaten in their last nine league away games against promoted sides (W7 D2), with their last defeat against such opposition coming against Bournemouth in March 2023.

They were probably deserving of the three points, accumulating 1.95 expected goals (xG) from their 23 attempts, though they only got three of those on target. Sunderland, by contrast, tested Alisson twice from their 11 shots (worth 0.66 xG).

And it was a big moment for Van Dijk; he scored his 23rd Premier League goal for Liverpool, moving him one clear of Sami Hyypia (22) as the defender with the most goals in the competition for the Reds.

The Dutchman was excellent defensively, too, making a game-high 14 clearances.