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Tottenham Hotspur dragged Liverpool into their unique vortex of chaos in north London on Sunday afternoon, but still emerged on the wrong side of a 6-3 defeat.
From the first whistle there were nine goals, seven different scorers and one clear winner. After Luis Diaz’s opener, Spurs were always chasing, but never really in danger of earning any points.
Victory for Liverpool and Chelsea stumble against Everton It gives Arne Slott’s side a four-point lead at the Premier League summit when they sit down to their Christmas dinner earlier in the day. Tottenham will hold their turkey from relative depth in 11th place.
How the game unfolded
Tottenham’s under-fire manager Ange Postecoglou spent most of his pre-match press duty Attacking his critics. Amid Jamie Carragher’s sideswipe, the stalwart Australian admitted: “A big part of our game is entertainment.” Crucially, Postecoglou never made it clear which fans would enjoy watching.
An increasingly angry Tottenham Hotspur stadium looked horrified Liverpool Quickly established dominance over the competition. The Reds had eight shots (one by Tottenham) before Diaz broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. Sidestepping Trent Alexander-Arnold’s atrocious cross, Diaz headed unmarked six yards from goal.
Spurs had a box full of white shirts when Andy Robertson hit another delivery towards goal, yet neither of the hosts managed to assert any authority over the situation. Alexis McAllister took advantage of the indecisiveness, doubling Liverpool’s lead with a close-range header that left Postecoglou nodding on the touchline.
Dejan Kulusevski has emerged as one of them TottenhamThere have been some consistent performers this season. The tireless Swede troubled McAllister on the ball in the 41st minute, setting up James Maddison for the goal that began to dim any hope of a Spurs fightback.
Liverpool quickly extinguished those faint vestiges of optimism. Dominic Soboszlai flicked a simple punt forward that completely derailed Tottenham’s hodgepodge rearguard. Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin left the red shirts two sets behind as Mohamed Salah squared Szoboszlaine to make it 3-1 at half-time.
Arne Slott’s visitors were in no forgiving mood, but Tottenham didn’t need to be so accommodating. The hosts are rarely reserved and were even wilder as they pushed forward in search of a way back into Sunday’s contest. Liverpool struck twice on the counter in quick succession, launching a pair of crisp forward thrusts – both of which Salah converted to make it 5-1 with 30 minutes to play.
Kulusevski continued his good individual form by linking up with Dominic Solanke on the edge of Liverpool’s area, volleying into Tottenham’s second half in a typically chaotic outing in north London. Solank got himself on the scoresheet in the 83rd minute to lead Tottenham to an improbable turnaround from within just two goals.
Diaz capped off the festive entertainment with the ninth and final goal five minutes from time, picking out the bottom corner with a crisp swish of the ball.
Check out player ratings for Tottenham vs Liverpool here.
In a game mentioned once or twice in the build-up to Sunday’s fixture, Luis Diaz has unhappy memories of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Colombia international was at the center of the biggest VAR controversy in Premier League history when his Strike against Spurs In September 2023 was wrongly dismissed for offside.
No amount of miscommunication can deter Diaz this weekend – however, as the Liverpool forward benefited from a lack of communication between Pedro Porro and Dragusin to slot in between the two defenders for a worthy opener.
So confident was Diaz, who proved a brilliant nuisance all over the pitch from a roving centre-forward role, that he attempted a fake Rebona, sending Poro across the field with a devilish dummy in the second half.
The royally in-form forward bookended the evening’s goal bonanza, but could have ended with a hatful. Diaz had five shots on target – the same number of pairs as the entire Spurs team.
Instructing your centre-back to straddle the halfway line is all well and good when Fastest player in the league And the World Cup winners are your defenders. However, that high-wire act soon turns into self-immolation when you line up with the 18-year-old midfielder and defensive partnership with Radu Dragusin.
Archie Gray did his best to hold off the flood of red shirts, but could only stretch his angular frame against many shots. Dragusin spent most of the contest running helplessly towards his goal, constantly chasing a fleet of red buses that he would never catch.
Postecoglou’s gung-ho approach earned Tottenham three of their goals, but also contributed to the six he conceded. Had Liverpool been a little more ruthless, the scoreline could have moved beyond the tennis courts to cricket.
Arne Slott came perilously close to taking over at Tottenham in the summer of 2023. Ultimately, the former Feyenoord boss opted to stay in the Netherlands, while Spurs turned to Postecoglou.
Both clearly aspire to an exciting style of football, but Slott has proven to be a deceptively pragmatic manager. Unlike his opposite number, the Dutch coach has often shown the ability to change matches with in-game tactical changes – however, Slott got his set up from the first whistle on Sunday.
Spurs were completely confused by taking Cody Gakpo out of the frontline and pushing Diaz into a more hybrid role in Liverpool’s press. The Colombia international overshadowed Yves Bissoma, disrupting Tottenham’s build-up and forcing the hosts into goalless punts.
Despite scoring three goals, Spurs were limited to just nine shots – the only time all season that Postecoglou’s all-out-attacking unit registered fewer attempts in a Premier League game.
