Tottenham Hotspur beat Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool 2-0 in English Premier League
The battle for Europa League is firmly on as Tottenham Hotspur beat Liverpool 2-0 in the penultimate game of the English Premier League and spoiled the Reds celebrations following the 3-year contract handed to their manager Kenny Dalglish.
Although the Spurs are now front runners in the race for the Europa League, there is still plenty of debate on if they really want to be part of that competition or not. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp had earlier made it clear that he believes playing in the
Europa League may turn out to be a distraction for his team next season as they look to get back to fourth spot and make it to the Champions League in the next season.
Despite all the action on the pitch provided by both sets of players, referee Howard Webb had a number of questionable decisions and it is fair to say that he did have a big part to play in the Spurs win. The biggest and most obvious wrong call made by him
was the penalty awarded to Tottenham, when the foul clearly had taken place outside the box.
Earlier it was the Dutchman http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rafael-c30339 van der Vaart who volleyed home the first goal in the first half to give the Spurs an advantage after just 11 minutes.
Tottenham are now one point ahead of Liverpool and in fifth spot. If they manage to win their last game coming weekend, then the London club will be assured a place in the Europa League.
Liverpool have had a proud home record since the arrival of Kenny Dalglish and have not lost at Anfield in the League under him. However, the visitors did not care about stats as Tottenham started the game on the front foot attacking http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 on every opportunity.
Andy Carroll, the 35-million-pound signing from Newcastle United, was in the starting line up and he was paired up with Luis Suarez. The effective duo of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dirk-Kuyt-c11348 and Suarez had been doing exceedingly well in last few games but the presence of Carroll meant
that Liverpool did have the ariel advantage but lacked mobility up front.
Tottenham were enjoying good time on the ball and did make good use of the possession. Van der Vaart had a chance in the first five minutes but his shot went well wide of the goal as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pepe-Reina-c29672 watched from a distance.
In the 11th minute of the game, the Dutch international tried his luck again but this time he was much further out. His left foot volley was deflected and left Reina wrong footed as the ball landed in the far post to make it 1-0.
Liverpool had been struggling to cope up with the pace of Tottenham and the new system with Carroll up front did not seem to be working for the Reds. Were the 35 millions going to waste already? Well it was too soon to answer that but the anxiety of Carroll
doing what Torres has done at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 was surely felt at Anfield on Sunday.
The second half saw the Spurs start from where they left off. Meanwhile the Reds were looking for a change of luck after changing their formation.
In the 55th minute, Howard Webb became the most hated man at Anfield when he awarded the Spurs a penalty. The foul by John Flanagan certainly seemed outside the box, and at the same time, it looked more like http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Steven-Pienaar-c34208 had fouled Flanagan
rather than the other way around.
However, a penalty was given and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Luka-Modric-c22857 calmly slotted it home. 2-0 it was and the wind was certainly blown out of Liverpool’s sails. The home side could not mount a serious reply and now must hope for the Spurs to drop points and win their own last
game if they really do want to be part of the Europa League next season.
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