Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool climbed back into the top four of the Premier League tonight thanks to a resounding victory over Spurs.
Roberto Firmino’s goal in the dying seconds of the first half gave the Reds a lead and Trent Alexander-Arnold doubled it early in the second. And while Pierre Emile Hojbjerg pulled one back for Spurs, man-of-the-match Sadio Mane made the points safe.
West Ham’s victory over Crystal Palace on Tuesday night dropped Liverpool out of the top four; almost unthinkable a few short weeks ago, but they responded tonight and, after a difficult run of games, looked more like their old selves.
Spurs just weren’t at the races tonight and they remain in sixth place.
Highlights of the game
Here in the SBOTOP Premier League team, we reckoned this might be a good time for Spurs to play Liverpool and the hosts thought they had made the perfect start when Heung-Min Son put the ball in the net with just three minutes on the clock, but after a long delay while VAR took a look the goal was chalked off as Son was marginally offside in the build-up.
Having missed the defeats at home to Burnley and then to Manchester United in the FA Cup, skipper Jordan Henderson was back in the Liverpool line-up at centre half, and that put the onus on Thiago to run the midfield, which he did well as Liverpool dominated the first half. Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris was called upon to make two great saves, first from Mane after the Senegalese striker had a smart interchange with Mo Salah, and then when Thiago released Mane, Lloris was there again to make the save.
But the France keeper was beaten with the last kick of the half. Henderson launched a superb pass for Mane and he squared for Firmino to slot the ball home.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg scores Tottenham’s lone goal of the match
In an explosive start to the second half, the Reds doubled their lead when Lloris could only push away another Mane effort into the path of Alexander-Arnold who slammed the ball into the net. But Spurs fought back and when Steven Bergwijn teed up Pierre Emile Hojbjerg the Danish midfielder sent a thunderbolt past Alisson to half the deficit.
Only ten minutes into the half Mo Salah fired a third home, but his celebrations were cut short when VAR spotted a handball by Firmino in the build-up. But Liverpool were 3-1 up midway through the half when Sadio Mane took advantage of Joe Rodon’s hesitancy to hit a beauty of a half volley beyond Lloris and hand the Reds a crucial three points.
Key statistics
The pre-match Spurs vs Liverpool betting odds had Klopp’s men as favourites to win the game, at odds of 2.23, and the Reds were superb value, dominating from start to finish.
The way they played tonight it is hard to believe that Firmino’s opener was Liverpool’s first goal in almost eight hours of league football and the Reds’ first in the Premier League in 2021.
The victory was only Liverpool’s second in their last nine away games, though they have lost only twice in that period.
But it was a bad night for Spurs boss Jose Mourinho who has now lost his last four meetings with the champions, while his team has lost six consecutive matches against the Reds, and they have just surrendered their eight-match unbeaten run.
What’s next?
The Premier League 2021 updates will keep on coming as the games arrive thick and fast. The top-flight teams are playing twice a week and both Spurs and Liverpool have some huge matches coming up over the next ten days.
Mourinho takes his team for a trip to
the South Coast at the weekend where they will face struggling Brighton, before returning home for a colossal derby at home to Chelsea who will have their new head coach Thomas Tuchel in the dugout. Then there’s a contrasting challenge on Saturday 6th February when relegation candidates West Brom arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Jose may well fancy nine points from those three games.
Liverpool are back in London on Sunday to meet the high flying Hammers and they’ll feel a lot better about that game after tonight’s performance, before heading back to Merseyside for two more matches over the following seven days. First, they host Brighton, and then there’s a huge game on Sunday 7th February when hot title favourites Manchester City head down the East Lancs Road to Anfield.
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