Liverpool 1 Wigan Athletic 1: Dalglish expects Suarez to be favourite with Anfield support

The 24-year-old, a £22.8m arrival from Ajax last month, made his second appearance for the Reds against Wigan Athletic during which he hit the post and the crossbar with shots in a busy performance which caused the visiting defence numerous problems at Anfield.

Prior to Saturday, Suarez’s only competitive action in two months – due to a seven-match suspension and Holland’s winter break – had been the 27-minute substitute appearance against the Potters but he lasted the whole game against the Latics.

Manager Kenny Dalglish admitted it was not ideal for the World Cup star but he was pleased with what he saw. “It was maybe unfair to keep Luis on for 90 minutes because he’s not had too many games but we kept hoping he would get a goal,” said the Scot.

“His energy and enthusiasm and movement is going to cause a lot of people a lot of problems.

“He never did anything which surprised us because he didn’t do anything we’ve not seen before.

“He is a good footballer playing with good footballers so I am not going to be surprised by anything that he does.

“He will be a favourite with supporters, I think.”

Uruguay international Suarez also received the support of fellow South American Lucas Leiva.

“He is a dangerous striker, you could see that against Wigan and he worked really hard to help the team,” said the Brazil international.

“You could see his quality with the free-kick (which hit the crossbar) and I am sure he will score a lot of goals.”

Raul Meireles scored his fifth goal in six matches before being forced off with sickness just after half-time.

Liverpool – who were without captain Steven Gerrard, who injured his groin in the win over Chelsea – failed to capitalise on the advantage he had given them and Steve Gohouri poked home the equaliser midway through the second half.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez paid tribute to his players for fighting back to earn a point.

“If you go 1-0 down after playing well that is really difficult but I was really pleased in the first half,” he said. “We had long spells of possession but we probably didn’t show that real belief that we needed to show against a team like Liverpool.

“But going into half-time with that feeling we could do a little bit better, I thought the reaction was great.”