Tottenham Hotspur 1, Liverpool 2- Match Review: Reds Pick Up Crucial Three Points

TOTTENHAM 1 VS. 2 LIVERPOOL

Tottenham Hotspur – Richarlison 83’
Liverpool – Isak 56’, Ekitike 66’

Pre-Match

Liverpool travel to North London to take on struggling Tottenham Hotspur to try and possibly make it into the top five. Big news is that Dominik Szoboszlai has passed a late fitness check and has been deemed ready to start. Mohamed Salah is, of course, in Morocco preparing to represent Egypt in the African Cup of Nations. Alexander Isak remains on the bench in favor of Hugo Ekitike, the only Liverpool seemingly capable of finding the back of the opponent’s net.

First Half

It’s a cold evening in London and both teams are taking their time warming up. The first big chance for either team happens around nine minutes in. Ibrahima Konaté plays Ekitike in down the wing. There’s a brief battle in the box with Cristian Romero, but it’s one that unfortunately the Argentinian wins. A penalty shout is rightly waved away, and the game continues.

Later, captain Virgil van Dijk gets a head on Szoboszlai’s corner, but it goes straight into Guglielmo Vicario’s grateful hands.

Both teams playing like they don’t want to lose in the first 25 minutes. Ekitike is trying, but he’s not getting much support from the front line. Conor Bradley shows some good defending by just putting himself between the ball and Djed Spence, ultimately winning the Reds a free kick in their own area.

The first save for Alisson comes when Kolo Muani meets a great header across the goal from Spence. Thankfully, the shot is a tame one, bouncing once before landing directly in front of Alisson.

Almost 30 minutes in, Xavi Simons catches van Dijk very late, clipping his ankles while making no attempt at the ball. The initial call is a yellow, but it goes for on-field review, and the verdict is rightly changed to red. Spurs go down to 10 men with more than half the game to play. That was so needlessly reckless from Xavi, and under no pressure at all. The crowd can’t believe the call and neither can Xavi. It should be a red card for stupidity, if nothing else. Let’s see if Liverpool can capitalize on the extra man.

Milos Kerkez wins a free kick, but it comes to nothing. Moments later, Florian Wirtz gets a low shot off from the left side to the far post. Vicario puts in a diving save to keep it out.

Liverpool enjoy a decent spell in front of the Spurs goal: a couple corner kicks and passes outside of the 18-yard box. Wirtz is finding space on the wing with Spurs down a man, and he and Kerkez work together to try to exploit. However, the whole thing ends with Spurs rushing down field on the break. Bradley does a great job anticipating the pass. He intercepts it and gives his teammates enough time to catch up to him. And of course, because Bradley has been having a good game, the lad goes down at the end of regular time after a tangle with Spence in the Liverpool box. No penalty is called, which is good, but Bradley has to walk it off.

The half ends with another wasted Liverpool corner.

Second Half

Unsurprisingly, Bradley is taken off at halftime. It’s Isak who’s taken his place. That means Ekitike and Isak are both playing up front, with Szoboszlai moving to right-back. Arne Slot wants a damn goal, and you know what? Same, boss, same.

Isak is on for less than 10 minutes when Rodrigo Bentancur drags his studs across his knee. It’s waved away without a foul, but it’s clearly painful. He gets back up after a moment.

Then Spurs lose the ball high up in their half. Wirtz gets it to Isak, who slots it in with a first time touch. Liverpool lead at 56 minutes in!

However, the joy of the game’s first goal is dampered, because Isak is taken down a second time by Micky van de Ven. This time he can’t get back up. He’s helped off the pitch, limping, by the medics, replaced by Jeremie Frimpong. At least there’s no stretchers involved, but that’s such a shame. Rarely will we get to see Ekitike and Isak on the pitch together.

So now it’s Ekitike central again with Wirtz to his left and Frimpong to his right.

The game continues on after the pause for Isak’s treatment, with Liverpool in the lead.

On the other end, Muani has an effort that’s intercepted by a good challenge by Kerkez. However, the bounce takes the ball up and hits the bar.

10 minutes later, substitute Frimpong sends in a looping header straight to Ekitike in the center of the goal. The Frenchman nods it in, and just like that, Liverpool lead 2-0. Both Romero and manager Thomas Frank are booked for protestations, wanting a foul on Ekitike against Romero on the header. The referee is having none of it.

This two-goal lead feels more secure than 2-0 leads of the past this season, since Spurs are down a man. However, there’s still 20 minutes left to play, and I give this Liverpool side no benefit of the doubt. If the result stands, though, it will put them in fifth place, at least until Crystal Palace plays Leeds United later today.

But the universe exists to test me, so after an amateurish pinball game inside the Liverpool area, Richarlison gets one back for Spurs. The corner that initiated it came from an excellent defensive header from van Dijk.

So here we go. Last eight-ish minutes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Can Liverpool hold the line and take home all three points, or will they blow it in the dying minutes once again?

Frimpong is down now. His mouth is bleeding after being caught by Richarlison. What the hell is happening in this game? In the cursed sub position, sub of the sub Frimpong is now being replaced by sub of the sub of the sub Federico Chiesa. Bradley injured -> Isak -> Isak injured -> Frimpong -> Frimpong injured -> Chiesa. Light a candle for our Italian prince.

Now Spurs are down to nine men, with Romero sent off for kicking at Konaté. Moments later Bentancur is booked too. Spurs are absolutely crashing out here, in the minutes after getting their lifeline through Richarlison.

Andy Robertson and Trey Nyoni come on for Wirtz and Ekitike to see out the final minutes of injury time.

Final Thoughts

In the end, the Reds hold their own against 10-men Spurs to win a huge three points. Merry Christmas, I guess, except for all of the injuries.