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Captain Jordan Henderson has warned his Liverpool team-mates they must be ready for a battle against struggling Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday night.

The Reds midfielder is determined to ensure Jurgen Klopp’s side build on their morale-boosting Boxing Day triumph over Leicester City when they take on his former club.

Liverpool have stood accused of being out-fought by opponents in recent weeks following demoralising defeats in their past two away league games against Newcastle and Watford.

However, Henderson believes the gutsy performance against Leicester proves they don’t lack physicality and he wants to see a similarly robust display in the North East.

“Against Leicester we fought from the start right to the end and that is what got us the three points,” Henderson said.

“It’s that toughness you need in the game and then you build from that. With the quality you have got in the team you are then going to get chances and score."

'Over-playing killed us at Watford'

Henderson continued: “We needed to be more clever after the Watford defeat. With the conditions that day - the wind and the difficult pitch - we tried to over–play at times and that sort of killed us.

“We needed to play more clever football, which is what we did against Leicester by playing in behind their defence more and that gave us a platform.

“We did the simple things well, created some really good chances and kept a clean sheet which is important.

“We will have to be clever again at Sunderland because it will be a difficult game for us so we need to make sure we do the same as we did against Leicester. We need to find different solutions in games and make sure we win the battle.

“Fighting throughout is just a given, really. We should be doing that every week and we need to make sure we do it again on Wednesday.”

'Benteke will have confidence'

Striker Christian Benteke is expected to start at the Stadium of Light in place of the injured Divock Origi. Henderson is confident the £32.5million frontman will build on his match-winning contribution against Leicester.

“All strikers want to be scoring goals and I am sure that one will give him confidence,” he said.

“Christian was brilliant when he came on and deserved his goal. He did well to score.”

Sam Allardyce’s side are camped in the relegation zone following a miserable run of four straight league defeats.

Henderson, who made 79 appearances for the Black Cats prior to his move to Anfield in 2011, would love to see them pull clear of trouble over the coming months. However, his only focus on Wednesday night is ensuring Liverpool finish 2015 on a high.

“Sam is a good enough manager to keep them up but the only thing that will be on my mind will be to get the three points,” Henderson added.

Remember, you can follow all the action from the Stadium of Light here. Kick off is at 7.45pm on Wednesday.