Liverpool clashed heads with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield earlier this afternoon looking to leapfrog Manchester City to the top of the Premier League standings. The Reds began the match on the offensive and took the lead through Roberto Firmino’s header in the 16th minute. The home team created chance after chance but couldn’t add to their one-goal advantage before half-time.
The second half was a bit different with Spurs coming back strong and getting a foothold in the game. They scored a deserved equaliser in the 70th minute through Lucas Moura’s finish from close range. However, the Reds refused to give up in the dying embers of the contest and somehow managed to get themselves ahead in the 90th minute after a mistake by Hugo Lloris which saw the ball get deflected in by Toby Alderweireld.
The match ended with the final scoreline of 2-1 in favour of Jurgen Klopp’s red army.
Let’s take a look at how each Liverpool player performed during the game against Spurs.
GK: Alisson Becker – 5.5/10
Not the best game from the Brazilian keeper. Although, his distribution was once again entirely accurate, yet he always looked nervy at the back.
RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold – 8/10
The 19-year-old Liverpool right-back whipped in some dangerous crosses during the game. It was his diagonal which found Mohamed Salah in space whose tame header led to the Liverpool winner in the last minute of the encounter.
CB: Joel Matip – 7/10
The Cameroonian international was solid throughout the match and came to Liverpool’s rescue on quite a few occasions.
CB: Virgil Van Dijk – 8.5/10
The Dutch centre-back organised his backline with authority and managed to keep Harry Kane quiet during the 90 minutes. Another excellent defensive display from Liverpool’s ‘Rolls-Royce’.
LB: Andrew Robertson – 9/10
The Scottish full-back put in an inch-perfect cross to set-up Firmino in the first half. He was once again an excellent outlet for the home side down the left flank.
CM: Jordan Henderson – 4/10
The England international was poor with his ball-distribution and failed to dominate the midfield. He needs to be benched and be replaced by Fabinho in the coming weeks.
CM: James Milner – 6/10
The Liverpool veteran worked hard in the middle of the park but didn’t offer much going forward.
CM: Georginio Wijnaldum – 6.5/10
The Dutch midfielder was full of energy and running from midfield, and his tireless dribbles helped free up space for Firmino and Salah in the Tottenham half.
RM: Mohamed Salah – 5/10
The Egyptian winger found it challenging to get into the game in the first half. However, he got some fantastic opportunities in the second half to break his recent barren goal-scoring run but couldn’t take any of those chances.
ST: Roberto Firmino – 9/10
The Brazilian forward was perfectly positioned to head home the ball which opened the goal-scoring for his team. He often dropped deep in midfield and picked out some majestic passes during the encounter.
LM: Sadio Mane – 8/10
The Senegalese winger was unfortunate not to find the back of the net in the first half. However, in his defence, it wasn’t for the lack of trying. He put in another exceptional shift and linked up with Robertson well down the left flank.
Substitutes:
CM: Fabinho – 7/10
The Brazilian midfielder brought some bite to the Reds midfield and managed to restore some dominance going forward in the final quarter of the game.
ST: Divock Origi – 5/10
The Belgian forward made some decent runs down the left wing but failed to hit the target with his attempts from range.
CB: Dejan Lovren – N/A
The Croat came on to the pitch to run the clock down in injury-time.
