EPL match review: Tottenham Hotspur boost their title credentials as they beat Liverpool 2-1
Tottenham playmaker Rafael van der Vaart was a doubt with an ankle injury but returned to the side as he started in place of Roman Pavlyuchenko, while midfielder Wilson Palacios replaced Jermaine Jenas. England international striker
Jermain Defoe was on the bench. Liverpool made one change from the side that beat West Ham last time out as Lucas Leiva returned from suspension to replace Christian Poulsen in midfield.
William Gallas led Tottenham out and Jamie Carragher, who made his 450th league appearance for Liverpool, took the visitors on to the pitch at White Hart Lane.
Liverpool had apprehensions about Glen Johnson marking Gareth Bale as anyone would, but he did a very decent job. Early on, Bale had a corner from the left which evaded Younes Kaboul and was met on the volley by Peter Crouch, but
he was under pressure only to slice wide.
Liverpool were testing Heurelho Gomes. Maxi Rodriguez had a lively start and the Argentine hammered one in from 25 yards that Gomes did really well to tip away at full stretch diving to his left.
Liverpool worked it nicely in the Tottenham half; they had plenty of good movements and plenty of sighters. Lucas's shot from 20 yards took a deflection and flied out for a corner. From that set-piece, a Martin Skrtel header goal-wards
looked like it might have hit Younes Kaboul's arm, but nothing given.
A penalty shout at the other end as well, Paul Konchesky gave the ball straight back to the Spurs and Alan Hutton raced into the Liverpool penalty box, bursting between two players and going down in the area. There was some contact,
but it was a bit theatrical from the Scot and referee Martin Atkinson waved play on.
Luka Modric got away down the Spurs right and when his cross was half-stopped/half-fumbled by Pepe Reina it fell for Jermain Defoe six yards out - it looked like he had to score, but Carragher put his body in the way and made the
block.
The injury to Younes Kaboul was an odd one - all that happened was he blocked a Fernando Torres shot, but he immediately signalled to the bench. Sebastien Bassong came on in his place with 10 minutes to half-time.
Liverpool were clearly the better team and Raul Meireles hit a skimmer from all of 30 yards that Heurelho Gomes unsatisfactorily shovelled behind for a corner.
At last Liverpool made their domination count; they certainly deserved to take the lead. A free-kick 45 yards out was lofted into the Spurs box and after Martin Skrtel's header hit David N’Gog it fell at the feet of the defender,
Skrtel keeping his cool to shoot a right-footed low into Heurelho Gomes' net.
Minutes later it should have been 2-0, from the sublime to the ridiculous inside a few minutes, as Fernando Torres played an outrageous, swivel pass through to Maxi Rodriguez, only for the Argentine, clean through, to scuff his
shot completely as Heurelho Gomes gathered.
At this moment, it seemed as though Roy Hodgson was stamping his mark on Liverpool and they looked a more organised outfit. They had largely stifled Spurs and went into the break 1-0 ahead.
Just after the interval, Liverpool should have doubled their lead. This time it was Maxi Rodriguez who played Fernando Torres through down the inside left channel, but Sebastien Bassong matched him for pace and made a brilliant,
lunging tackle to prevent the Spaniard from doubling the lead.
Another chance fell for Torres moments later: he was sent clean through by Lucas, fabulous pass, but for some reason the Spanish striker delayed and delayed and delayed and in the end Sebastien Bassong got back to get a block in.
Liverpool could end-up ruing missed opportunities. They had three great openings to score but failed to capitalize on them.
Spurs rode their luck but as Liverpool were thinking about those misses Tottenham were awarded a free-kick. Gareth Bale took it and hit the Liverpool wall - well, David N’Gog had his hands above his head and it hit them, so Martin
Atkinson gave a spot-kick. The Reds players were furious, but it was a silly move from N’Gog. Jermain Defoe stepped up and shot wide of Pepe Reina's right-hand post. Silly N’Gog, silly Defoe!
Just when the scenario seemed one of doom and gloom from Tottenham’s point of view, Luka Modric superbly sprinted past three defenders down the left and fired over a cross that Martin Skrtel diverted into his own net. That's class
- and we had our Premier League record because all 20 teams have scored this weekend. There was some hesitancy from Liverpool defence in the build-up to the goal just outside their area and Modric capitalised in devastating fashion.
The goal lit up White Hart Lane and temperatures soared as tackles flew in, the players gave everything and there was danger from every attack. Now, Liverpool were defending deep, as Gareth Bale and Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s crosses
were headed away. Jamie Carragher had a problem with his shoulder; he looked in a lot of pain after an aerial challenge with Peter Crouch. He dislocated his shoulder and was replaced by Sotirios Kyrgiakos.
As was the case last week, Tottenham showed resilience and character as Benoit Assou-Ekotto started the move from left-back, but as soon as Peter Crouch flicked on a header, Paul Konchesky was caught out of position as Aaron Lennon
controlled it well on his chest, burst clear and slotted coolly past Pepe Reina. Great finish to a great game.
This was magical way to finish a truly majestic weekend of Premier League football. Liverpool could have been 3-0 up after 50 minutes, but what a great fight-back from the Spurs.
Final Score: Tottenham Hotspur 2 Liverpool FC 1
Teams Line-up:
Tottenham: Gomes, Hutton, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios, Modric, Bale, Van der Vaart, Crouch.
Subs: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar, Corluka, Sandro.
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Konchesky, Kuyt, Meireles, Lucas, Maxi, Torres, Ngog.
Subs: Jones, Aurelio, Jovanovic, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Poulsen, Shelvey.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)
Tags: