Sunderland, Liverpool on collision course

Liverpool's hopes of winning the title are set to collide with Sunderland's desire to avoid the drop when they meet at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

Liverpool, who need to bounce back from their midweek exit from the Champions League quarter-finals, will be looking for three points that will keep them up among the leaders.

A further twist for Gerard Houllier's side is that neither Arsenal, who lead the premier league on 72 points, nor champions Manchester United, who have 70, will be in league action this weekend. The Gunners play Middlesbrough in Sunday's FA Cup semifinals while United have the weekend off.

Currently third in the table on 68, the pressure is clearly on Liverpool to secure second place -- particularly as Arsenal will then have a game in hand on both their title rivals.

Should they only manage a draw, Houllier's men risk getting left behind in the race to English football's top prize with just four games left to play.

Rallying his troops, Houllier harked back to Liverpool's 1-0 victory over the Black Cats in late November, a few days after his team had been given a 3-1 drubbing by Barcelona at Anfield.

"The players know we still have plenty to play for this season," the Frenchman told the club's website.

LAST DEFEAT

"We played Sunderland after our last European defeat against Barcelona too. I'm sure the team will bounce back now like they bounced back then."

Victory would guarantee the Reds could finish no lower than fourth in the table, and a place in the final qualifying round for next season's Champions League.

On the injury front, they will be without England striker Emile Heskey, who has failed to recover from a hamstring pull suffered in their 4-2 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, while skipper Sami Hyypia has been laid low with 'flu.

"We are concerned about Sami," Houllier said. "But knowing him as I do, I will be very surprised if he doesn't play."

European Footballer of the Year Michael Owen has overcome his injury scare from earlier in the week, while midfielder Steven Gerrard has been passed fit to play after back trouble.

But if Liverpool are looking to stay on the glory trail, struggling Sunderland will settle for the certainty of premier league football again next season.

A poor run of form -- with eight defeats in their last 13 league games -- has hauled them down to 15th in the table, and just five points above the drop zone.

ERASE FEARS

Victory over Liverpool would erase those fears -- though Sunderland have not achieved that feat at home to the Reds since 1958, while their visitors have won their last five league games on the trot.

Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips is struggling with a longstanding stomach muscle injury, but is torn between giving the injury the rest it needs and trying to help Sunderland avoid a relegation dogfight.

"Unfortunately, I just can't rest at this stage of the season," Phillips told the club's website.

"If we were safe then it might be different. The manager might be able to think about resting me.

"I've played every game of the season bar one and it's just caught up with me."

Phillips, who could only play the first half last week against Leeds last weekend, added: "I'm not moaning about it, but playing 40 games in the Premiership is tough."

Tough it may be, but certainly not as hard as the prospect of first division football for Peter Reid's side.