Liverpool welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Anfield in a blockbuster Saturday Night Football showdown at the top of the Premier League.
Victory will see Liverpool go top until Sunday evening at minimum whilst Tottenham can improve to fourth with a win because Arsenal aren’t in action until Sunday afternoon.
Team News
Roberto Firmino could return for Liverpool if he passes a fitness test following his recovery from a foot injury, which has kept the Brazilian out of their last five matches.
Tottenham have no fresh injury concerns to report as Japhet Tanganga, Matt Doherty (both knee), Sergio Reguilon and Oliver Skipp (both groin) remain absent.
Stat Attack
- Liverpool are unbeaten in their last eight league meetings against Tottenham (W6, D2), in which both draws finished in 2-2 results in February 2018 and December 2021.
- Tottenham are winless in their last 10 league visits to Anfield (D3, L7).
- Jurgen Klopp’s Reds have won each of their last three home clashes against Spurs by 2-1 results, with Mohamed Salah netting once in each of their last two clashes at Anfield.
- No Premier League defenders have produced more assists than Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold (12) & Andrew Robertson (10), who have created 22 assists between them in 56 total league appearances.
- Coming into this matchweek, Spurs’ Steven Bergwijn has made the joint-most substitute appearances alongside Brentford’s Yoane Wissa as the pair each made 18 appearances off the bench this season.
Prediction
Having secured a third Cup Final following their comeback midweek victory at Villarreal, Liverpool now need to be at their absolute best if they’re to at least briefly seize control of this title race, although they simply can’t afford to repeat their sloppy first-half display from midweek.
Should they indeed replicate that performance then I believe that it will be a tough ask for them to repeat a second-half comeback, particularly because Tottenham are tougher opposition than Villarreal so won’t be as easy to fight back against.
Spurs though showed excellent sharpness and physicality in their attacking play to clinically defeat Leicester last weekend, whilst also defending well against waves of attacks from the visitors despite conceding late on in the game so can come here full of confidence.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tottenham opt for their counter-attacking tactics which has often served them well in recent weeks, yet their recent away record at Liverpool is poor so they probably need to score early because if Liverpool get the lead then it is game over.
Prediction: Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham
Result: Liverpool 1-1 Tottenham