The prodigal son returns with a bang

Liverpool started this Premier League season very impressively, surprising even their most ardent supporters. Three wins in three games, including their famous victory against their perennial rivals Manchester United, gave the supporters the reason to believe that good days are back at Anfield and the pundits predicted that Liverpool may actually finish in the top 4 this time. The team was playing beautiful football under the tutelage of Brendan Rogers and with Daniel Sturridge in imperious goal scoring form, Lucas Leiva and Steven Gerard rock solid in central midfield and the defence buoyed by an impressive Simon Mignolet in the goal, the team looked destined for good things. However all the goodwill suddenly appeared to have wavered as they could collect only 1 point from their next two fixtures against Swansea and Southampton. It was evident that even though they have started the season so impressively, they were missing something which prevented them from being a very good football side.

Then last midweek they were ousted by Manchester United in the Capital One Club. Though this was another reverse to their impressive start to the season nevertheless, it marked the return of Luis Suarez after completing his 10 match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic’s arm. Liverpool were poor for most part in the match but their only positive was that Suarez was in impressive form, constantly causing trouble to the United’s defence. It was clear that in order to make this season successful Brendan Rogers’ team needed to get the best out of Suarez.

And yesterday we had witnessed what Suarez brings to the table. The 26-year-old Uruguayan made his EPL return against Sunderland on Sunday, and what a return it was. He scored two goals as Liverpool returned to their winning ways expertly dispatching Sunderland by 3 goals to 1.Perhaps the most encouraging part of Suarez’s performance was how well he linked up with Daniel Sturridge. Sturridge assisted for both of Suarez’s goals, and the two played off each other very well. They weren’t running into the same areas of the pitch, and neither was eschewing his teammate in order to take a shot on goal himself.

In nine games when they have been on the pitch together since Sturridge arrived at Anfield last January, the Liverpool duo have now got 14 goals. That is an impressive omen for the Liverpool faithful and bad news for their opponents as Suarez-Sturridge partnership has all the attributes to become the most lethal strike force in the Premier League.