Suarez seals points

The livewire Uruguayan was ultimately the star of the show, but he did also appear to tweak his hamstring in the final minute and was immediately withdrawn.

For Sunderland, though, it was a truly nightmarish afternoon as they saw Sulley Muntari and Kieran Richardson both go off injured before the 22nd minute, and then had John Mensah sent-off eight minutes from time.

The goal that saw them go 1-0 down in the first-half will also enrage them as Dirk Kuyt scored from a spot-kick that was awarded for a foul on Jay Spearing that looked to be outside the box.

What is more, the referee Kevin Friend also initially awarded a free-kick - but was convinced to change his mind by one of his assistants.

There was no doubt about the second goal in the 77th minute though, as Suarez cut in from the right before smashing a goal into the top corner when it looked to be an impossible angle.

Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet should not have left a gap at his near post for the ball to fizz through, but even he must have been surprised that Suarez tried something so audacious.

Mignolet was arguably Sunderland's best player in a game that saw the hosts dominate possession but Liverpool create all the chances.

Liverpool were struggling to hang onto the ball in the opening half-hour but they did have the best early chance when Mignolet made a point-blank save from Kuyt after he got on the end of Andy Carroll's flick on from a corner.

Carroll was starting up front with Suarez for the first time, but the £35 million man struggled to hold up the ball at times and he was off the field by the time Suarez scored the clincher.

Kuyt's penalty came in the 32rd minute and it was still a horror-show for Mensah, who lost the flight of the ball, which allowed Spearing to run behind him and clear on goal.

Mensah then clumsily brought down the Liverpool midfielder, but replays showed that the assistant was wrong to convince the referee to change his initial opinion that it was outside the box.

Still, all the significant chances in the match did fall to Liverpool. Suarez forced a great save from Mignolet with a half-volley five minutes after the opener, and Lee Cattermole, on early as a sub for Muntari, then cleared a Carroll header off the line in the 51st minute.

Mingolet pushed away another great effort from Spearing in the 74th minute just before Suarez sealed things three minutes later.

Suarez's impact didn't end there either, as he was pulled down by Mensah when a ball over the top sought him out in the 82nd minute. The referee gave Mensah a straight red-card, which looked a little harsh, although even a yellow would have seen Mensah off in any event as he had been booked for the foul that brought down Spearing for the penalty.

Mensah, along with Muntari and Asamoah Gyan, were part of the Ghana team that were controversially knocked out of last summer's World Cup by Uruguay in large part because of Suarez's now infamous handball on the line that denied a winning goal.

No doubt all would have been determined to get revenge over the Liverpool striker; instead, they have been handed a whole new set of reasons to curse the former Ajax man.