Liverpool hosted Tottenham in a crucial match for both teams in the Premier League last night, Liverpool who are eyeing a quadruple and competing with City in the Premier league, face the challenge of Spurs who are struggling to penetrate the Champions League zone.
Playing in front of tens of thousands of their supporters, Liverpool know they have to be perfect in every game they will go through in their title race this season. Liverpool tried to take the initiative to attack with boisterous support from the supporters who filled the Anfield Stadium.
The Reds dominated possession and bombarded the Tottenham goal. But in the end, Liverpool had to swallow a bitter pill, stung by Spurs who had taken the lead through Son Heung-Min’s goal, before Luis Daz turned things around with his crucial goal, but it was only enough to earn a draw that felt like a defeat for the fans. enthusiastic fans in the stands.
This draw against Tottenham broke the winning streak at home for the first time since October.
Antonio Conte feels as though he was tailor-made to cause problems for Liverpool. Well, Conte seems to really know how to dampen Liverpool’s explosion, from Conte’s record of 6 meetings against Liverpool, he only lost once, drew four and won once.
The Lilywhite was so disciplined at the back with a deadly threat from long passes into the line, making Jürgen Klopp’s men face a tough test. Moh Salah, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz were made to work hard to get past the defense organized by Antonio Conte. A back five often became a back nine, with only Son and Dejan Kulusevski left to pose a threat with quick counter-attacks.
Despite dominating possession and buying and selling attacks. However, so minimal opportunities are really dangerous. In the 29th minute Sessegnon almost diverted a header into his own net but Lloris parried the ball just as Salah lurked in front of goal.
Liverpool just got a fairly mature opportunity in the 39th minute through Virgil van Dijk’s opportunity who released a measured header against Lloris from a corner kick sent by Trent Alexander-Arnold, but unfortunately the ball still hit the crossbar.
Towards the end of the first half, Hugo Lloris made a brilliant save to parry Luis Diaz’s powerful shot from outside the box. A minute later, Spurs hit back through Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who made Tottenham’s first dangerous chance of this match, Hojbjerg’s hard shot from outside the penalty box still hit the outside post of Alisson Becker. The score 0-0 closed the match in the first half.
In the second half, there was no substitution of players from both sides, the conditions of the match did not change much. Liverpool still dominated possession from the kick off while Spurs held on tight and threatened with quick counter-attacks.
The result for the Spurs, eleven minutes into the second half of the game, the Reds’ attacking preoccupation was taken aback by Spurs’ quick counter-attack. The Lilywhites’ men got their opener. Harry Kane was given too much time and space on the edge of the box and saw Sessegnon down the left, Kane prodded the ball for Sessegnon who sent in a low cross which Son Heung-Min converted to score and silence the crowd at Anfield.
Three minutes later, Carlo Ancelotti’s men almost added to their goal coffers, Sessegnon and Son Heung-Min’s slick collaboration almost led to Tottenham’s second goal. With an almost similar scheme, but unfortunately this time Heung-Min failed to position his feet properly so the ball just hit the net next to the goal.
Trying to break the deadlock to catch up, Jurgen Klopp made two substitutions in the 64th minute, Diogo Jota who was actually a striker was introduced to replace Jordan Henderson in the midfield position and what was a little surprising was the inclusion of Kostas Tsimikas to replace Andrew Robertson.
The substitutions made by Klopp also paid off, Hugo Lloris’s goal finally broke in the 74th minute. Starting from a short pass outside the box by Thiago who played superbly in this match, Luis Diaz brought the ball up in front of the penalty box, Luis Diaz then fired from the edge of the box his kick was deflected by Bentancur and turned into the bottom corner of the goal making Hugo Lloris dead step. Anfield Stadium instantly exploded, as loud as ever. The score changed to 1-1.
With 15 minutes remaining and five minutes of injury time added by the referee, the two teams fought hard to find the winner. Liverpool pressed but Spurs defended well and even so there were few chances to go. No more goals are scored until the referee blows the whistle.
With the addition of one point gained, Liverpool are now level with Man City at the top with 83 points, but even at the top because of Liverpool’s goal aggressiveness advantage will be displaced if City manage to win points in their 35th game against Newcastle. Meanwhile, Tottenham are stuck in 5th place in the EPL standings with 62 points, 1 point behind Arsenal, who will only play their 35th match against Leeds United tonight.
The next five games for Jurgen Klopp are in the hunt for the quadruple title, two finals against Chelsea in the FA Cup and Real Madrid in the Champions League, and three Premier League games against Aston Villa and Southampton at home and against Wolves at Anfield. All of these matches must be won by Virgil van Dijk et al, while hoping Manchester City stumble in one of their remaining four matches in the Premier league.
ASL
