Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool: Facts & Stats

Liverpool travel to London this weekend to take on Tottenham at Wembley Stadium in what should have been Spurs first home game at their new stadium. But while it won’t be that—Spurs are still at Wembley due to construction delays—this fixture will allow Liverpool to seek revenge on the hosts after an abysmal performance and subsequent loss on the road last season.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Potchettino described Liverpool as being one of the top teams not only in England but in Europe in his pre-match press conference and stated that the game on Saturday would be very different to last season. He is not wrong. While the Reds have strengthened their squad considerably, Spurs opted to buck the trend and not buy any new players during the recent summer transfer window.

Jürgen Klopp has yet to win a match at Wembley stadium. Dortmund came second to Bayern Munich (final score: 1 – 2) in May 2013 in the Champions League Final. Following that, Liverpool ultimately lost out to Manchester City on penalties (the match ended 1 – 1 with Liverpool losing 3 – 1 on penalties) in the League Cup final and of course there was Liverpool’s 4 – 1 loss to Spurs in October last year in the Premier League.

Spurs’ Form

Tottenham have won only 48 out of their 171 fixtures against Liverpool, but they did win the maiden match of this fixture 1 – 0 all the way back in November 1909, when the League First Division was the top tier of English football.

Spurs are currently fifth in the Premier League after losing 1 – 2 away to Watford shortly before the international break. Prior to that they were in stellar form after unhinging Manchester United (for the second season in a row) by beating them 3 – 0 at Old Trafford on 27 August 2018, a 3 – 1 home victory against Fulham on 18 August 2018 and a 2 – 1 win over Newcastle away at St. James Park on the opening day of the season.

They will likely come under closer scrutiny should they lose on Saturday, with many already questioning the decision of continuing to trust the same players and not bolstering the squad after three successive top four finishes without any silver to show for it.

Spurs vs. the Reds: Head to Head

All time – Wins: 48 Losses: 80 Draws: 42
Premier League: Wins: 14 Losses: 23 Draws: 15
Last six meetings: Wins: 1 Losses: 2 Draws: 3

There has been a total of 22 penalties in matches between these two teams, more than any other in Premier League history and according to Opta statistics, Spurs and Liverpool are the two most aggressive sides in the Premier League for pressing opposition.

Liverpool’s Form

After losing at Wembley last season, Liverpool went on to have the best defensive record in the Premier League. Since October 2017 the Reds have kept the most clean sheets with 17 and conceded less often than any other side with only 23 goals conceded. Manchester City are in second place with 13 clean sheets and have conceded 26 goals, followed by Chelsea with 15 clean sheets and 31 goals conceded and United are in fourth spot after 13 clean sheets and 31 goals conceded.

Liverpool have never won four games in a row during the PL era and after conceding only one goal since the start of the 2018-19 season they are top of the table and will be looking to stretch their winning streak to five on Saturday.

Who to Watch

Tottenham’s Lucas Moura and Liverpool’s Sadio Mané are the two most clinical finishers in the PL over the first four games with seven goals from 16 shots between them. Mané is joint top scorer (with Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic) with 4 goals while Moura is on 3 goals after having scored with all three of his shots on target.

Both Spurs and Liverpool do not allow their opponents more than a few passes (the fewest in the PL) without a tackle, interception or foul which gives their opponents less time to pass. Thus we can look forward to an exciting match with some decent football on display.

My match prediction is Spurs 0, Liverpool 3. Because the Reds are in good form, the defence is looking solid—and why not?

Up the Mighty Reds!