Liverpool vs Tottenham – Match Preview

We may have to wait until the Evening but without question the fixture of the day takes us to Anfield where Liverpool play host to Tottenham. Both sides may well feel that the title is now out of reach but this game could have wide ranging implications in the race for the top four.

Liverpool now find themselves on the outskirts looking in after a run of Premier League form which has still failed to produce a league win in 2017. After the home draw against Chelsea at the end of January many felt that they had finally dug themselves out of a rut as they moved into the trip to Hull last Saturday.

Only it seems as they reverted to type as Marco Silva’s side pulled off somewhat of a shock victory at The KCom Stadium, The Tigers ran out 2-0 winners but perhaps with the form Liverpool have been is as of late it’s not that much of a shock after all.

That said that defeat will have no doubt rankled with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp as he continues to see his season disintegrate and he knows that the rut has to stop soon if not now if their early season promise is not to end up unfulfilled.

Sadio Mane is now fully back in the fold after his AFCON duties last month so that is no longer an excuse that Liverpool can use if results don’t go there way. The Senegalese forward will be no doubt looking forward to going up against Ben Davies later on this Evening.

That is going to be one of the key battles on the pitch in my opinion and for Tottenham it will be a major blow that Danny Rose is set to be out for the rest of the month. Not only have they lost his ever increasing defensive capabilities but they have also lost the fact that he can play as an almost auxiliary winger at times.

And in doing so it more often that not stiffles the opposition’s own ideas of attack. Whether Ben Davies will be able to get forward with the same license remains to be seen, to be honest it seems unlikely so therefore he will have to be at best when Mane throws everything at him.

Going into this game there have been questions as to which Liverpool goalkeeper will get the nod. It was reported on Friday that Loris Karius was set to be recalled after a shaky set of performances from Simon Mignolet, but it is believed that the Belgian will keep in his place in the starting lineup.

There are no such question for Tottenham as once again Hugo Lloris will start in between the sticks and look to lead from the back as the club look to go one better than the 1-1 draw they earned here last season. That game which saw Harry Kane score a late equaliser but a dent in their title hopes as Philippe Coutinho opened proceedings for the home side.

Coutinho has recently been awarded a new £200k contract but has yet to really show that he has been worth the extra weekly wage. People accuse him of perhaps being just a big game player, well this Evening certainly poses a big enough stage for the Brazilian.

For Tottenham they come into this game off the back of a 1-0 win at home to Middlesbrough and pose the only challenge that Chelsea may have when it comes to winning the title. Should the gap end up being wider than the 9 points that it already is then you would have to say that it’s time to get those blue ribbons out.

Tottenham managed to finally break down the resolve of Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough thanks to a second half Harry Kane penalty. But it was nothing short of what they deserved after already seeing two goals disallowed prior to Kane finally opening the scoring.

They may not be scoring for fun as of late but they are getting results when it matters. There last big away encounter was at The Etihad when they came from 2-0 down to snatch a somewhat unlikely draw away at Manchester City. Not many gave them hope once City had that two goal advantage but credit must go to Spurs for clawing back a point.

The last time these two sides met was at White Hart Lane earlier in the season and again it was a 1-1 draw. Liverpool will have come away from that game asking themselves how they did not come away with all three, the simple answer is that they did not put Spurs to the sword when they had the opportunity.

They had countless chances at 1-0 up to kill the game off after Roberto Firmino put them ahead in the first half but the longer the game went on the more Spurs came back into the game and in the end were good value for their point thanks to Danny Rose’s strike from the edge of the box.

A draw Today would arguably suit Spurs more than it would Liverpool. Although The Reds come into this game in terrible form since the turn of the year it would be far too easy to dismiss them, all bad runs have to come to an end at some point don’t they and Spurs may well just be the unfortunate side that feel the Liverpool backlash.

Defeat for Liverpool would see a 7 point gap open between themselves and Spurs and not only that they could end the weekend in 6th what with the form of Manchester United. They simply cannot afford to lose this one or the Champions League door could be slammed shut.

I have a feeling that Liverpool are going to raise their game like they did for the visits of Manchester City and Chelsea and with Tottenham having an aversion to positive results here I can’t see it being the best of evenings for the North London side.

I think the negative spiral ends for Liverpool this Evening. My head says that Liverpool win my heart says that I will take a draw from this one. Defeat will not define the season for Mauricio Pochettino but it certainly will do for Jurgen Klopp. It’s high stakes indeed and should make for interesting watching.