Reds begin with win over Stoke

Liverpool began their Premier League campaign with a narrow victory over Stoke City at Anfield in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.

Daniel Sturridge’s 37th minute strike was enough to secure all three points for Brendan Rodgers men, who secured an opening day home win for the first time in twelve years.

The Reds could have won by a much greater margin but for a man-of-the-match performance from Asmir Begovic in the Stoke goal, however the headlines were made by his Reds counterpart Simon Mignolet.

After a shaky start, the Belgian settled in to his debut, which climaxed with a late penalty save from Republic of Ireland international Jonathan Walters.

Kolo Toure and Iago Aspas also made their first competitive appearances, while suspended striker Luis Suarez watched from the stands.

The striker now has five matches remaining of his ten game ban, and could be set to stay at Anfield after returning to training with the first team.

The Times report that the 26 year old stopped short of making an apology to manager Brendan Rodgers, though he has accepted that his actions have ‘been detrimental to internal club harmony’.

Should the Uruguay international remain on Merseyside, he could feature in the trip to Sunderland on September 29th.