Reaction'A good night for us' - Virgil van Dijk on Liverpool's win at Sunderland

The captain's second-half header from a Mohamed Salah corner secured the three Premier League points for the visiting Reds.

It was the first time Regis Le Bris' side had suffered defeat at the Stadium of Light in the top flight this season.

• Read our match report here

"A great win," Van Dijk told TNT Sports post-match. "Hard work on a very, very interesting, difficult pitch. [I'm] pleased with the three points. Recover and go again on the weekend.

"To come here, to play like we did today, [it's] a well-deserved three points. A great game, so we'll take it and move on.

"I think they showed this season how difficult it is to beat them. A lot of credit to them, it's a very hard-working team. With their fans behind them, it makes it a good atmosphere over here.

"It's good to come here and for us to win and keep the clean sheet. A good night for us."

A dominant showing was eventually reflected in the scoreline when Van Dijk broke the deadlock in the 61st minute.

The victory was then preserved with defensive contributions from every position on the pitch.

On securing the clean sheet, Van Dijk continued: "Very important. I think Ibou [Konate] was outstanding, Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] in front, everyone was putting a shift in, Joe [Gomez], who came on, unfortunately Wata [Endo] going off.

"I'm proud of the guys. They worked so hard for this today and it's great to see."

Van Dijk acknowledged the importance of the result for Liverpool in terms of their pursuit of Champions League qualification.

But the focus now turns towards this weekend's meeting with Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup.

"We can't deny that it feels very big but there are still 12 games to go," Van Dijk finished. "We have to try to keep improving, try to find consistency. I think in the second half of the last game we played against [Manchester] City we did well, apart from the last 10 minutes.

"We have to try to keep building, try to stay fit as well and stay confident and keep improving. Today was a great step forward in terms of our performance with and without the ball.

"Now it's just recover and we play on Saturday at eight o'clock again against Brighton, who are a very difficult team to beat.

"So, we need everyone, we need our fans, we need everyone who wants the best for us in order to get that job done. Now it's time to recover."