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Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool welcomes Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham to Anfield later today in what will likely be a defining fixture in the race for top four in the Premier League. Liverpool are currently in third place on 50 points, two goals ahead of Chelsea, while Spurs find themselves two points outside of the Champions League spots in fifth place with 48 points.
Liverpool’s form
After losing to Spurs in an abysmal display in October, Liverpool went on a spectacular 18 game unbeaten run. And, with the inevitable losses out of the way, Liverpool looked more like a team gearing to go on another long run when they beat Huddersfield on Tuesday. Liverpool are unbeaten in each of their last 14 Premier League games at Anfield with eight wins and six draws and have only lost to three teams in the Premier League this season. Liverpool are also the only team to have beaten current League leaders, Manchester City, this season.
Spurs’ Anfield past and current form
Having unhinged and outplayed Manchester United with ease in midweek, Spurs are in excellent form and after doing the same to Liverpool at Wembley in October, they should arrive at Merseyside with more confidence than in previous seasons. Spurs have won only six out of 74 visits to Anfield, including two wins in 25 Premier League matches, with the last time having been in May 2011 when Harry Redknapp was in charge. Spurs put two goals (from Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric) past Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool who failed to score that day. Before that, their last Premier League win at Anfield had been in August 1993. Spurs have also failed to do a league double over Liverpool since 2010-11, with Harry Redknapp’s side beating Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish.
The results of the last five matches between Liverpool and Spurs were:
October 22, 2017: Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Liverpool
February 11, 2017: Liverpool 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur
October 25, 2016: Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
August 27, 2016: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Liverpool
April 02, 2016: Liverpool 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Ones to watch
Harry Kane has had a hand in six goals in six Premier League appearances against Liverpool (four goals, two assists), including three in the reverse fixture this season (two goals, one assist). He has scored 18 goals in his last 13 Premier League away games, netting at least twice in six of the eight matches.
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Mohamed Salah has scored 19 Premier League goals in 24 games this season – the quickest a player has got to 20 goals in the competition for Liverpool is 27 games (Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge). Since the start of December, Roberto Firmino has been directly involved in 11 goals in 11 Premier League appearances (eight goals, three assists). Overall, Bobby has scored 11 goals in 24 games this season, equalling his best scoring season in the competition (11 in 35 in 2016-17). Sadio Mané’s two goals in the space of just 138 seconds sent Spurs packing at Anfield a year ago and though his form has not quite been the same since his red card at the Etihad in September, he is currently on nine goals and seven assists.
Many expect that Liverpool will concede a few goals in today’s match, but given their unbeaten run at home (and October’s 4-1 loss to Spurs aside), they are more than capable of taking all three points. A win today will likely prove to be a very important one in the race for top four.
Up the Mighty Reds!