Liverpool will be looking to stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League standings when they face off against Tottenham Hotspur this weekend.
Liverpool will be looking to extend their unbeaten run in the 2019-20 Premier League when they travel to London to take on Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening.
Jurgen Klopp’s men are running away with the league title, having established a thirteen-point lead over second-placed Leicester City, with a game in hand no less. The Reds come into the game on the back of a 1-0 win against local rivals Everton in the FA Cup and will be looking to bag another win at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Tottenham, who are sixth in the table, find themselves in a bit of a pickle, having won just one of their last five matches in all competitions. Mourinho’s men were beaten by Southampton in the league last time out, following which they were held to a 1-1 draw by Championship outfit Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. They will be hoping to return to winning ways on Saturday.
The last time these two teams met, Liverpool came back from a goal down to beat Tottenham 2-1 with goals from Jordan Henderson Mo Salah. And ahead of the blockbuster clash on Saturday, The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at both the teams.
Team News & Tactics
Tottenham
The big news coming from the Tottenham camp is that star striker Harry Kane is sidelined for a considerable period after having undergone a surgery. He joins captain Hugo Lloris, Ben Davies, Moussa Sissoko and Tanguy Ndombele on the treatment table. Danny Rose is back after recovering from a calf problem though, which will be a minor boost for Mourinho.
Having fielded a three-man backline against Middlesbrough, the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss is likely to stick with a similar setup against the champions-elect. Paulo Gazzaniga will continue to deputize in goal in Lloris’ prolonged absence.
Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez are likely to be the personnel tasked with keeping the Liverpool attack. Serge Aurier ought to continue as the right-sided wing-back, but Rose could come in on the opposite flank in place of Ryan Sessegnon.
Eric Dier is likely to move into central midfield in order to provide security to the backline, with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen providing the forward thrust and creativity for the hosts.
With no Kane, there will be major responsibility on Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura to come up with the goods in the final third.
Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Gazzaniga; Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Aurier, Eriksen, Dier, Alli, Rose; Moura, Son
Liverpool
James Milner and Naby Keita have been ruled out of the game, while Liverpool will once again be without the services of Fabinho and Dejan Lovren, who are expected to return to full training next week. Joel Matip is also unavailable again, along with Nathaniel Clyne. Xherdan Shaqiri is back in training having recovered from a slight hamstring issue.
Having fielded a youthful side in the FA Cup win against Everton, Klopp will recall his heavy-hitters for the big game on Saturday. Alisson Becker should return in goal for Liverpool, while the defence will be made up of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson will line up as the holding midfielder and look to keep a watchful eye on the forward runs of Dele Alli. Georginio Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ought to start in the remaining two midfield slots for the visitors.
There is no looking past the fearsome trio of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in the final third of the pitch.
Probable Lineup (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Betting Odds
Probables:
1. Liverpool to win @ 1.66
2. Sadio Mane to score anytime @ 2.10
Outside Chance:
1. Liverpool to win to NIL @ 3.25
Key Stats
- After a run of five consecutive away defeats against Tottenham between 2008-2012, Liverpool have lost just one of their six Premier League visits to Spurs (W3 D2).
- Tottenham have won just one of their last 14 Premier League meetings with Liverpool (D4 L9), winning 4-1 at Wembley in October 2017.
- Liverpool are unbeaten in their last eight Premier League games in London (W5 D3), winning the last three in a row. The Reds haven’t won four consecutive league games in the capital since October 1989.
- Tottenham have won six of their last 10 Premier League home games against sides starting the day top of the table (D1 L3), though they have lost their last two (vs Man City in April 2018 and Liverpool in September 2018).
- Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has won just two of his 10 games against Jurgen Klopp in his managerial career (20%) – among the 114 managers he’s faced more than twice. Only against Ronald Koeman (17%, 1 win in 6) does he have a worse win ratio.
Player to Watch
Dele Alli
Alli seemed to have found his mojo back under Mourinho after having started the season on a slow note. The England international has a decent tally of 7 goals and 3 assists from 21 games across all competitions.
However, Alli has failed to find the back of the net in the last three matches in all competitions. With Harry Kane sidelined for at least three months, Tottenham need the midfielder to be firing on all cylinders if they are to get things back on track and keep their hopes of a top four finish alive.
Prediction
Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Liverpool
Tottenham have had problems at the back all season and things haven’t improved a great deal under Jose Mourinho. And the fact that they will be without Harry Kane will be a huge blow – Spurs have won just two of their last 12 games in which the Englishman has played no part (D4 L6), failing to win any of their four such matches this term (D3 L1).
Liverpool have been on a roll in the Premier League. They have been near unstoppable for most of the season and when things have gotten difficult, they have shown the mindset to dig deep and carve out results. That is likely to be the case again on Saturday, with Jurgen Klopp’s side picking up all three points at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.