In what can only be described as a clash between two teams fallen short of their goals through the end-of-season stretch, Liverpool welcomed Tottenham Hotspur to Anfield on Sunday, within the 36th round of the Premier League campaign.
Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock for the Reds in the 16th minute, and Andy Robertson extended their lead in the 45th.
The teams
Jurgen Klopp arranged his men in his usual 4-3-3 shape, with Alisson Becker in goal, Jarell Quansah partnering Virgil van Dijk in the heart of defence, and Trent Alexander-Arnold and Robertson on the defensive flanks. Wataru Endo anchored the midfield consisting of Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey Elliott, while Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz joined Salah in the attacking line.
Spurs stepped out on the Anfield turf in the same shape. Guglielmo Vicario was between the posts, with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero as the centre-back partnership, Pedro Porro on the right side of defence, Emerson Royal on the left. Pape Matar Sarr was tasked with providing protection for the back four, with Rodrigo Bentacur and Yves Bissouma completing the midfield section. Son Heung-min lead the line upfront, flanked by Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson.
The game
Liverpool stamped their authority straight away, and an early Bissouma shot that went high into the stands was the only attempt Spurs made in the entire first half. Despite a few wasted opportunities and a questionable decision by referee Paul Tierney not to award a penalty for a rather obvious foul by Van de Ven on Gakpo, Liverpool took the lead through Salah’s clever near-post header, and Robertson later took advantage of confusion in Spurs’ defensive ranks to slot home from close range, after Vicario parried Salah’s shot, to score the second.
The game went on much in the same way at the start of the second half, and only when Gakpo’s brilliant header increased Liverpool’s lead to 3-0 did the visitors start doing something at the other end. Alisson was forced into a difficult save by Johnson’s brilliant header and Quansah did extremely well to stop a dangerous run from Son, but then Elliott fired a perfect shot from just outside the box for Liverpool, hitting the top corner in a manner that made it impossible for Vicario to do anything about it.
With the score already 4-0, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou reacted, obviously too late, by withdrawing Kulusevski, Bentacur and Emerson and replacing them with James Maddison, Richarlison and Oliver Skipp.
While Skipp helped his team keep hold of the ball in the middle of the park and gain some control, Maddison didn’t really do much apart from several long-range attempts that didn’t trouble Alisson at all. On the other hand, Richarlison made a big impact, making smart runs in behind the Liverpool defence and causing them real problems. He eventually topped off an excellent individual performance by scoring Spurs’ first goal, but not before Klopp replaced Endo and Robertson with Stefan Bajcetic and Joe Gomez.
Bajcetic is still very fresh after the injury that kept him out of first-team action for the entire part of the season so far, and his first Premier League appearance was understandably raw. Spurs felt their opportunity and repeatedly pressed the 19-year-old hard, and their newborn energy enabled them to dominate for a while and score their second goal through Son.
But Liverpool responded and showed they still had some fuel in the tank. The contest became livelier than before, and both teams had several very good chances, and while Alisson made a top-class save to prevent Richarlison from making things extremely exciting at the end, Darwin Nunez, who had come on instead of Luis Diaz, and Salah both missed glorious opportunities to score Liverpool’s fifth.
The Richarlison effect
Given the way his cameo affected the contest, it’s a bit of a mystery why Richarlison didn’t play from the start. Being a former Everton player, he is obviously extremely motivated against Liverpool.
Though Postecoglou will have had his reasons for the lineup he selected, he might want to consider starting the Brazilian forward against this particular opposition in their future encounters. The difference in the level and the amount of problems Spurs created for Liverpool with him on the pitch was staggering, and it obviously caught the Reds’ back line at unawares like a sudden slap in the face.
Too little, too late
It was too late for Spurs when they started playing like they should, being already four goals down, and the points lost at Anfield mean an opportunity wasted to close the gap to Aston Villa in their battle for the final Champions League spot after Unai Emery’s team lost 1-0 away to Brighton and Hove Albion.
The gap is now seven points wide, and though Spurs are still mathematically in the race with three games left to play, just one Villa victory from their last two matches will take them beyond the reach of the North Londoners. Incidentally, Villa’s next game is against Liverpool at Villa Park.
If the situation at the very top of the table were different, Spurs might’ve hoped for a favour from the Merseysiders in that game, but by the time it kicks off, Liverpool will probably completely ruled out of the title and left with nothing to win or lose on the Birmingham trip. Further more, Villa have proven themselves against Arsenal and Manchester City this season, and the prospect of scalping the third-place team that until recently had hopes of winning the title will surely provide further motivation, in addition to securing Champions League qualification beyond doubt.
Just like the two goals for Spurs in this game, this victory comes far too late for Liverpool’s title hopes. With two games left to play, Arsenal need one point to move out of their reach; Manchester City need four to do that, but they have a game in hand on both these rivals. And that extra game will be played on May 14th, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which means Spurs are still an important factor in this race, even though their previous two matches were defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool.
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