Sunderland 0 Liverpool 1: Jordan Henderson hails Lazar Markovic

Jordan Henderson heaped praise on match-winner Lazar Markovic after Liverpool edged to victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Markovic opened his Premier League account with a ninth-minute strike before the Serbia international hit the crossbar with an innovative volley before half-time.

But we started really well and dug in towards the end to get a result

Jordan Henderson

Sunderland made a poor start to the second half after Liam Bridcutt received a 48th-minute red card before Adam Johnson was denied by the crossbar, but Liverpool hung on.

Asked his thoughts on Markovic’s performance, vice-captain Henderson said: “He is a fantastic player.

“He has great potential and we wants to learn all the time. He is doing hard work on the training field. You can see the quality that he has going forward.”

Henderson, who swapped Sunderland for Liverpool in 2011, was delighted to extend their unbeaten run to seven games.

“It was a great win,” Henderson added. “We knew they’d make it very difficult for us. But we started really well and dug in towards the end to get a result.”

Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was thrilled to secure a clean sheet on his return to Stadium of Light.

“It was windy today. You have to get through it. We kept a clean sheet in difficult conditions. We worked really well together.”