Coming to the headquarters of The Lilywhites at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Liverpool carries a mission to win nine times in a row to continue to follow Manchester City at the top of the standings. In the midst of the Covid-19 issue that hit Tottenham which caused them to postpone several matches, so did Liverpool, which had to rest four of its players who were confirmed positive for COVID-19. The match between the two teams, which can be called the Premier League match Week 18, presents an exciting and very interesting match.
Liverpool are without Virgil van Dijk, Curtis Jones, Fabinho and Thiago because they are positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, Jordan Henderson is also sidelined due to illness, as are Nat Phillips and Harvey Elliott also remain sidelined through injury. Missing out on his first-choice midfield, Klopp has taken a proactive approach, fielding teenager Tyler Morton for his Premier League debut alongside Naby Keita and James Milner who both haven’t featured in more than a month through injury. But they are still able to put pressure on the home team. Liverpool’s full-backs were, as is often the case, the main draw, with Andy Robertson coming close with an early header, while Trent Alexander-Arnold tested Hugo Lloris with a left-footed strike.
On the other hand, Tottenham did not want to lose to spread constant threats to their visitors through Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Dele Alli, and in the 13th minute after Ibrahima Konate failed to contain Harry Kane who was able to break the deadlock with a low shot that Alisson couldn’t anticipate.
Harry Kane was lucky not to get a red card immediately, for his dangerous strike against Robertson. Kane was fortunate to stay on the pitch after a tough tackle on the Reds left-back, referee Paul Tierney only opting to warn the Spurs striker with a yellow card. While VAR officials considered the incident not a clear mistake to conduct a VAR review.
Meanwhile Jurgen Klopp had to receive a yellow card for his strong protest after the incompetent referee Paul Tierney did not award a clear penalty for Liverpool. However, the Reds managed to level the score in the 35th minute, assisting Andrew Robertson who sent a beautiful cross for Diogo Jota who headed his way through the Tottenham defenders, while Alisson Becker saved Dele Alli’s effort with a brilliant save to keep the scoreline. 1-1 in the first half.
The color of the game barely changed after the break, Liverpool continued to pound the Spurs defence, and Spurs served it with counter-attacking speed from Kane and Son that often forced Alisson to struggle to save his goal. Klopp worked his way through as he pulled off full Premier League debutant Tyler Morton, struggling hard, and brought on Roberto Firmino, and switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation with a calm Mohamed Salah pushed up front.
Despite four strikers on the pitch, it was the full-backs who put Liverpool in front, with Alexander-Arnold crossing Robertson who headed home from close range inside the box that silenced the home crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Luckily for Antonio Conte’s men, Alisson’s phenomenal sloppy slide allowed the Spurs to equalise, through Son Heung-min running behind Joel Matip, rounding the keeper through a stroke of luck and converting the chance into an equaliser.
Liverpool then had to go down to 10 men following Robertson’s red card for a foul on Emerson Royal after the referee looked through a VAR review. The red card clearly had an impact on the quality of the game, and Liverpool were left holding out for a point, really hurt by a controversial display from the officiating referee. The excitement of the match was unfortunately marred by several decisions of the referee who were considered incompetent in leading the match. One of them is related to Harry Kane’s hard violation of Andy Robertson.
As quoted from the Liverpool Echo. According to former top referee Keith Hackett, who is head of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), insisted Kane should have received a red card for his foul play. “How did Harry Kane stay on the pitch after a reckless challenge that put the opponent’s safety at risk?” so wrote Hackett on his Twitter page. “How can he defend a player who is out of control, using excessive force? Why doesn’t VAR suggest looking at the monitor to help the referee? That’s what he is there for.” “VAR rightly advised referee Tierney to review the red card for Robertson from Liverpool which was properly sent off. Why didn’t VAR do the same on Kane’s challenge? Both were red card violations.” Keith Hacket said of the performance of match officials and referee Paul Tierney.
Lineup:
Tottenham: Lloris; Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Royal, Winks, Ndombele (Skipp 64), Sessegnon (Reguilon 86); Alli, Son, Kane
Subs: Austin, Rodon, Tanganga, Doherty, Lo Celso, Bergwijn, Lucas
Coach: Antonio Conte
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Konate, Robertson; Morton (Firmino 60), Milner, Keita; Salah, Mane (Tsimikas 82), Jota (Gomez 90+2)
Subs: Kelleher, Quansah, Williams, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Gordon
Coach: Jurgen Klopp
ASL
