Sunderlad vs. Liverpool: Confirmed Line-ups

Emanuele Giaccherini and Patrick van Aanholt returned to Sunderland's Premier League starting line-up against Liverpool at the Stadium of Light.

One surprise was Santiago Vergini starting at right back in place of the fit-again Billy Jones, while Steven Fletcher, presumably injured, didn't make the squad at all. Neither did Jozy Altidore, as rumours linking him with a return to the MLS persist.

Sunderland (4-3-3): Costel Pantilimon; Santiago Vergini, Patrick van Aanholt, John O'Shea (c), Wes Brown; Liam Bridcutt, Seb Larsson, Jordi Gomez; Adam Johnson, Emanuele Giaccherini, Connor Wickham.

Subs: Billy Jones, Danny Graham, Ricky Alvarez, Will Buckley,Mikael Mandron, Liam Agnew, Vito Mannone.

There were no shortage of familiar faces in the Liverpool side, with Simon Mignolet, Jordan Henderson and Fabio Borini all starting for the Reds. Therewas no place for Raheem Sterling, though, who is reportedly injured.

Liverpool (3-4-3): Simon Mignolet, Emre Can, Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho, Jordan Henderson, Alberto Moreno, Lucas Leiva, Steven Gerrard, Lazar Markovic, Philippe Coutinho, Fabio Borini.

Subs: Danny Ward, Jose Enrique, Dejan Lovren; Rickie Lambert; Javier Manquillo, Mario Balotelli,Jordan Rossiter.