Liverpool and Sunderland both have injury concerns ahead of Saturdays Premier League clash at Anfield. Martin Skrtels return to action has been delayed by two to three weeks after the Reds defender suffered a setback in his recovery, while Sam Allardyce is sweating on the fitness of Yann MVila and Jeremain Lens.The Black Cats are winless in three league matches after their 1-0 loss to Manchester City, and they have not beaten opponents Liverpool in their last six Premier League attempts. Yann MVila is a fitness concern for manager Sam Allardyce Following their midweek defeat by top-of-the-table Leicester, Jurgen Klopps side are 11 points off the top four and face a quick turnaround with an FA Cup fourth-round replay against West Ham scheduled for Tuesday night.Team newsLiverpool midfielder Joe Allen is expected to overcome a shoulder problem and should be available, but Skrtel is out after aggravating a hamstring injury.Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi and Philippe Coutinho will not be available until next weeks FA Cup replay at the earliest. Joe Allen should be available after recovering from a shoulder injury Sunderlands MVila was unable to train on Thursday as a result of a foot problem picked up after a challenge by Citys Sergio Aguero on Tuesday, although he is less of a doubt than Lens, who is nursing a groin injury.Central defender Younes Kaboul will return to the squad after recovering from a hamstring problem which has sidelined him since before Christmas, but midfielder Sebastian Larsson (knee) is still out.Opta statsSunderland have scored in each of their last seven away league games; their best run in the competition since April 2013.Christian Benteke has scored six goals in seven top-flight appearances against Sunderland. Christian Benteke is two goals shy of 50 in the Premier League The Liverpool striker is two goals away from netting 50 in the Premier League (currently 48), but hasnt scored in his five league appearances since scoring the winner against Sunderland in December.Roberto Firmino has scored four goals in his last four league matches; this after scoring just once in his opening 17 appearances in the competition.Liverpool averaged more points under Brendan Rodgers in the Premier League this season (1.5) than they have under Klopp (1.4). Jurgen Klopp has less points on a per-game basis than predecessor Brendan Rodgers Sunderland have the worst points per game average of any current Premier League side in the month of February (0.63).The Black Cats have made a league-low 1408 successful passes in the final third of the pitch this season and have the lowest passing accuracy in this area of the pitch (55.7 per cent).Mersons predictionLiverpool are struggling at the moment, Klopp has come in and nothing much has changed. They sort of rolled over at Leicester, if Im being honest.Theyve got a hard FA Cup game at West Ham coming up, he rested his players for the first tie at Anfield and that confused me. Liverpool made 10 changes for the FA Cup match against West Ham Surely he should have gone the other way round and gone all out in the cup as theyre not going to win the league or get fourth. Im rather cautiously going for Liverpool here, although Im not sure why.PAUL PREDICTS: 2-1 (Sky Bet odds: 15/2)BettingLiverpool are 4/11 favourites with Sky Bet with Sunderland 8/1 and the draw available at 18/5. The Reds have not conceded in their last three league meetings with the Black Cats and are 5/6 to keep another clean sheet. Jermain Defoe walks off with the match ball after his hat-trick at Swansea This fixture finished goalless last year and its 12/1 for another blank on Saturday. Benteke scored the only goal when the sides met in December and he is available at 14/1 in a 1-0 scorecast. Jermain Defoe is 11/4 to net anytime for Sunderland with Fabio Borini 14/1 to net the opener against his former club.Check out tips from our Sky Sports pundits Jamie Redknapp, Charlie Nicholas, Phil Thompson and Matt Le Tissier here. Custom Twins T-shirts . The team said Saturday that Lopez was hurt during its 121-120 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Friday. The Nets said they would issue another update next week after consultation with their doctors. Cheap Twins Jerseys . The team says the Spain international has a muscle pull in his right leg. Barcelona hosts third-division side Cartagena in the return leg of their round-of-32 tie after winning their first meeting 4-1. http://www.customtwinsjersey.com/custom-harmon-killebrew-jersey-large-72s.html . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Custom Twins Jersey China . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. Custom Twins T-shirts . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week. Long before the U.S. womens soccer team filed a federal complaint over wage discrimination, the Australian women fought for better pay.And won.The Matildas, as they are known, will be among the 12 womens soccer teams playing in Brazil next week when the Olympics get underway. Their strike following a successful run in last summers Womens World Cup in Canada was significant as female athletes across sports fight for recognition and respect -- including their American counterparts.In terms of being trailblazers, Im not really sure. I think we just sort of went about it how we thought was necessary, Australian defender Steph Catley said. We felt we deserved more.The Matildas have made a quick ascent as one of the worlds elite teams. They gained national attention last year when they became the first team from Australia -- male or female -- to win a World Cup knockout round match by upsetting Brazil 1-0 and advancing to the quarterfinals.The United States went on to win the World Cup with a 5-2 victory over Japan in the final.Afterward, the U.S. women scheduled a pair of exhibition matches against Australia as part of a victory tour. But the Australian federation withdrew from those matches after the Matildas walked out of training camp and the players union said contract talks with the national federation had stalled.The Matildas, whose contract had expired, said they had not been paid for two months heading into the walkout.The salary for a national team player was equivalent to $14,475, based on a six-month playing period. That meant many of the players needed to have other jobs to make ends meet. Some players worked two club seasons, one at home in Australia and the other in the United States with the National Womens Soccer League, meaning they played year-round.The players were asking for a salary increase to $28,000 a year, as well as other benefits including improved accommodations and bonuses for international matches. The demands were part of larger bargaining that included the mens national team and A-League players, and the Football Federation Australia at one point claimed the Matildas were being used as a pawn in the negotiations.But there was a groundswell of support for the women, who have seen their popularity rise in Australia along with the teams stature on the national stage.American stars Hope Solo and Carli Lloyd, former player Julie Foudy and Canadian forward Christine Sinclair were among those who expressed support for the Australians..ddddddddddddThere were change.org petitions to support the team.The Matildas are courageously fighting for what is right. (hashtag) priclessrolemodels, Lloyd posted to Twitter.The deal that was eventually struck in November included a pay structure that puts the salaries for top players at $30,700 per year and those at the next level at $22,400. The contract calls for a 10 percent raise each year and improved bonuses and other benefits.Our elite female players deserve a full-time professional career path in football and this agreement represents a solid foundation we can build on, players association chief executive Adam Vivian said at the time.Striker Kyah Simon said the move made the team stronger.The Matildas story is standing up for what we believe in and standing up for our brand and our culture. I think at the end of the day it brought the team closer together, Simon said. Its something we can look on with pride, and something thats hopefully a positive future for our sport and for the new generation of players.The victory came well before a group of U.S. womens national team players filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging wage discrimination. The women claim they make far less on average than their male national team counterparts. The complaint in late March came as the players seek a new collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Soccer.Heading into the Olympics, the Matildas are ranked No. 5 in the world.They leapfrogged Japan and Korea in the AFC qualification tournament to earn the trip to Rio along with China -- scoring 17 goals in five matches.Australia is in a tough group in Brazil that includes No. 2 Germany, No. 10 Canada and Zimbabwe. It is the only group with three teams ranked in the top 10. The top-ranked Americans play in a group that includes No. 3 France, New Zealand and Colombia.Australia opens the tournament on Wednesday against Canada in Sao Paulo.After the World Cup everything sort of started to change. When we came home there was so much media attention and so many people that were interested in what we were doing and really proud of the success we had, Catley said of the teams rising profile. I think people always knew there was a national team, but I dont think they realized how high in the rankings we were and how much better we were getting as a team. ' ' '