Every day of the Premier League, a new shock. This Sunday afternoon, Tottenham hosted Liverpool on matchday 17 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For this meeting against the championship leaders, Ange Postecoglou had to face a massacre of absentees in defense (Vicario, Romero, Van de Ven, Davies, Udogie, etc.). The Greek coach had therefore lined up an unprecedented defense made up of Porro, Dragusin, Gray and Spence. On the side of RedsArne Slot could count on Robertson’s return from suspension.
The first opportunity of the match was for the visitors with this strike from Salah, who failed to take advantage of the poor recovery from Fraser Foster (3rd). The Tottenham replacement goalkeeper then made up for it with a save against the Egyptian (10th). The PL top scorer struggled to materialize his chances, initially finding the defenders of the Spurs on his way (17th), then the crossbar (18th). Finally, Liverpool found the fault thanks to a sublime cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold to find the head of Luis Díaz (23rd, 0-1). The Slot team then dominated the debates. After a cross from Robertson, the ball was deflected by Szoboszlai, before being headed by Alexis Mac Allister (36th, 0-2). James Maddison thought to give hope to Tottenham (41st, 1-2), after a confusing action where Kulusevski recovered the ball from the feet of Mac Allister, who called for a foul. But Liverpool were far too strong. Following a lightning counter, Mohamed Salah shifted Dominik Szoboszlai for the third goal (45th + 1, 1-3).
Liverpool as boss, Mohamed Salah exceptional
In the second half, Liverpool’s attacks continued to turn heads Spurs. After another excellently played counter-attack, Díaz found Gakpo in depth. The Dutchman’s cross, poorly cleared by the Tottenham defense, allowed Salah to recover the ball and put it in the back of the net (54th, 1-4). The 32-year-old even scored a double, after a good serve from Szoboszlai (61st, 1-5). Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham’s best player this afternoon, reduced the gap after a magnificent move with Dominik Solanke and finished with his left foot (72nd, 2-5). If Solanke’s goal (83rd, 3-5) suggested a crazy end to the match, Díaz – well offset by Salah – extinguished the meager hopes of Tottenham supporters (86th, 3-6).
In the Premier League standings, Liverpool remain undefeated away from home this season and have scored a 20th success in 21 matches in all competitions. THE Redswho have a late match against Everton, are four points ahead of Chelsea. For Tottenham, this is already the 8th setback in the league this season. The London club remains in 11th position. The two teams will play again this Thursday on Boxing Day: Tottenham will go to Nottingham Forest (4th), while Liverpool will host Leicester City (17th).
