Fair to say that neither of these two clubs are loving life right now, so can either claim a morale-boosting victory on Merseyside?
Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur match preview
Jürgen Klopp’s farewell tour certainly has not panned out as envisaged, but the matter of the fact is that this’ll be his penultimate match at Anfield as Liverpool boss, so supporters are desperate to witness a win.
Last time out, eight days ago now, the Reds were held to a 2-2 draw by West Ham, scoring two quick-fire goals soon after half time to lead at the London Stadium, only to be struck by the hammer blow of a late equaliser.
So, any lingering Liverpool dreams of landing a 20th league title are now all but mathematically over, with the Reds having won only one of their last five, leaving them five adrift Arsenal with only three to play.
During this period, they’ve also had their hopes of a Europa League Final in Dublin dashed by Atalanta, dismantled 3-0 by la Dea at home, on a night that began to highlight the cracks in the foundation.
So, with little left to play for, the pressure should be well and truly off Liverpool now, so will that enable them to get back to winning ways?
As for Tottenham, they travel to Merseyside in horrendous form, desperate to avoid four successive Premier League defeats for the first time since October-November 2004, a sequence that saw Jacques Santini sacked.
Spurs’ latest defeat came as recently as Thursday night, easily beaten 2-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, conceding mid-way through both halves during a game in which they rarely threatened and were generally second-best throughout.
This came four days after defeat in the North London derby, 3-0 down at half time of that one, while in their previous away games Ange Postecoglou’s side had been smashed 4-0 by Newcastle at St James’ Park.
That hammering on Tyneside is the biggest league defeat the Aussie has endured since his Melbourne Victory side were smashed 6-2 by Central Coast Mariners in the A-League all the way back in February 2013.
These three successive defeats have all but ended Spurs’ top four hopes, currently seven points adrift Aston Villa with four games to play.
The maximum number of points Tottenham can end the campaign with is 72, meaning if Villa win two of their last three, they cannot be caught.
Postecoglou’s team had 26 points on the board after ten games, a dream start to the campaign, but their form since the start of November is alarming, yielding 34 points from 24 games, a miserly 1.4 points-per-game.
Extrapolated out across an entire season, this PPG rate is statistically very mid-table and would’ve seen them finish tenth last season.
So, plenty for Postecoglou to ponder, with this possibly the perfect fixture for Liverpool to get back on track and pile on the Spurs misery.
Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur Tips
The last two meetings between this duo have both certainly been entertaining, with Spurs fighting back from 3-0 down when they last visited Anfield one year and five days ago, only to concede immediately, thereby beaten 4-3.
The reverse fixture in September meantime saw Tottenham prevail 2-1, Joël Matip with a 96th minute own goal, albeit only after the Reds had been reduced to nine-men, and Luis Díaz had seen his strike incorrectly ruled out for an offside offence that did not occur.
Put more succinctly, we’re anticipating another high-scoring affair, given that their last 16 Premier League encounters have witnessed 51 goals, with both teams scoring in 14 of them, including each of the last seven.
Thursday’s defeat at Stamford Bridge was only the third time all season that Ange Postecoglou’s team had failed to score in a Premier League game, with both teams scoring in 21 of their last 25 outings.
Meantime, both teams have scored in 11 of Liverpool’s 14 league fixtures since 31 January.
Spurs have won just one of their last 26 trips to Anfield, this coming in 2011, failing to win any of their subsequence 13 visits, losing nine, so we’re full expecting Jürgen Klopp’s team to come out on top in a high-scoring affair.
All the headlines following Liverpool’s 2-2 draw with West Ham were about a perceived touchline spat between Jürgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah, with the Egyptian claiming ‘there would be fire’ if he spoke to the media.
Nevertheless, following a rare mid-week without a fixture, we’re fully expecting Salah to be back in the XI and, up against a Spurs side with no left-back, we’re forecasting that he’ll add to his 11 career goals against Tottenham, only netting more frequently against Man United.
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