Christian Benteke made it two winners in the space of four days as his goal helped Liverpool edge past lowly Sunderland tonight.

After a disappointing opening half at the Stadium of Light, the Reds finally broke the deadlock just 22 seconds into the second-half.

Christian Benteke marked his return to the Liverpool starting line-up as he sprung the Sunderland offside trap to latch onto a through pass from Adam Lallana and fire home a low shot from just seven yards out.

It comes four days after he scored the only goal in Liverpool's win over Leicester City.

He had a stoppage time chance to make it 2-0 but fired straight at Sunderland keeper Vito Mannone when clean through on goal.

The result lifts Liverpool from 10th to seventh, level on points with out-of-form Manchester United.

Next up for Liverpool is West Ham away on January 2nd.