Suarez and Sturridge tore Sunderland apart

But do the stats show if they are the new lethal 'SAS' after Shearer and Sutton?

Like an Oasis reunion tour, Liverpool’s win over Sunderland on Sunday brought back one of the great acts of the 1990s - SAS.

Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez unleashed their new striking partnership, both netting in a performance which brought to mind the original SAS - Shearer And Sutton.

Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton famously combined to win the Premier League title for Blackburn in the 1994-95 season.

Dynamic duo: Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge (left) and Luis Suarez put Sunderland to the sword

Return of the SAS: Alan Shearer (left) and Chris Sutton fired Blackburn to the Premier League title in 1995

Who Dares Wins: But can Sturridge and Suarez (right) be the new Shearer and Sutton 'SAS' partnership?

Shearer won the European Golden Boot by netting 34 league goals, while Sutton chipped in with a healthy 15, but it was the way they worked together that grabbed the headlines.

Liverpool’s version - Sturridge And Suarez - showed early signs on Sunday of heading down the same road, with the statistics from the game showing how they combined throughout the match to put the Mackems to the sword.

Much like Sutton supplementing and feeding the relentlessly prolific Shearer, Sturridge created opportunities for his Uruguayan partner, making his Premier League return after a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.

Daniel Sturridge stats

Goals 1
Shots on target 1
Shots off target 0
Assists 2
Passes 33
Passing Accuracy 75.8%

Luis Suarez stats

Goals 2
Shots on target 2
Shots off target 3
Assists 0
Passes 43
Passing Accuracy 81.4%

Back in action: Luis Suarez marked his return to the Premier League with two goals

The touch maps of Sturridge (left) and Suarez (right) show how the England man supplemented his partner .

Sturridge’s touch map sees the England man do a lot of the dog-work for Suarez, with a reasonable portion of his time on the ball coming in his own half, while Suarez’s map shows the talismanic striker all over Sunderland’s half, with little defensive responsibility.

For a player criticised for his selfishness while at Chelsea, it represents a remarkable turnaround for Sturridge. After bundling home Liverpool’s opener, he assisted both of his strike partner’s goals.

The attacking play relies on precision from the strikers, and Suarez and Sturridge sisn’t disappoint their ‘SAS’ predecessors in this respect. They had three shots on target between them, and each ended up in the back of Keiren Westwood’s net.

In flight: Sturridge did a lot of the dirty work to allow Suarez free roam of Sunderland's half

Selfless: Sturridge (15) set up both of Suarez's (7) goals on the Uruguayan's return from a 10-match ban

Brendan Rodgers’ 3-5-2 system allows the pair to flourish together, when many thought Sturridge may be forced into an unnatural wide position.

The formation seems, on paper, to be the perfect way to combat the default system of most teams in the Premier League - one target man in a 4-5-1, 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1.

The three centre halves have just one striker to deal with, while you have two men up front to stretch the oppositions defence rather than the normal lone forward. The midfield, meanwhile, can match the opposition man for man.

The average positions of Sunderland (left) and Liverpool (right) show Brendan Rodgers 3-5-2 system in action

Liverpool’s average position map shows quite how close Suarez (7) and Sturridge (15) were working in tandem, with support from Jordan Henderson (14), playing as a right wing-back.

Midfielders Steven Gerrard (8), Lucas (21) and Victor Moses (12) are remarkably compact in the middle of the park, helping Liverpool have the majority of the possession away from home.

A 3-5-2 system puts a big onus on the wing-backs to get forward, but this is characteristic of modern full-backs.

On Sunday, the heat maps Henderson and Jose Enrique show the Liverpool wide men up and down the entire length of each touchline.

All smiles: Brendan Rodgers' 3-5-2 system got the best out of both Suarez and Sturridge

This inevitably means the opposition have space behind the wing-backs, but the beauty of three centre halves is that two of them can cover out wide, with still one in the middle to deal with the front man. 

For Sunderland, their right-hand side of Adam Johnson (11) and Craig Gardner (8) exploited a lot of space behind Liverpool’s Enrique (3). Fortunately for Rodgers, defender Mamadou Sakho (17) was sufficiently wide to cover most of the threat.

However, good players as Gardner and Johnson are, the tactic may come unstuck against a side with a more potent attacking force - not a side who just had their manager sacked. Manchester City notably dumped the system after their first few matches last season.