Tottenham 1 Liverpool 2: Mo Salah double downs Spurs as Reds survive second-half fightback after Harry Kane goal
FOR once, there was no dramatic finish for Tottenham.
And now, the Spurs fans will have to believe their manager Antonio Conte that they have no chance of winning the title.
Two first half goals from Mo Salah, despite a second half strike from Harry Kane, were enough to give Liverpool only their fifth win.
Yet the loss means that Spurs are now eight points off neighbours Arsenal – and six behind Manchester City – and have played a game more.
Although it is only November, Tottenham – like inconsistent Liverpool – can forget any hopes of the title.
After injury-time winners against Marseille and Bournemouth – along with the mayhem of a disallowed goal against Sporting Lisbon deep into stoppage time – there was no repeat here.
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Instead, Jurgen Klopp’s team, much the better side in the first half, were able to hang on to a win after successive Premier League losses to Southampton and Leeds.
Tottenham’s attacking threat was not helped by the absence of Son Heung-min but it would have been better had they delivered their second half performance in the first 45 minutes.
Here, in an entertaining match, we saw the good and bad of Trent Alexander-Arnold who bypassed Tottenham’s midfield with some outrageous diagonal passes to Darwin Nunez, yet defensively was not to be trusted.
Gareth Southgate has a big decision to make over Alexander-Arnold when he names his World Cup squad on Thursday.
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Eric Dier, also hoping for a call-up, delivered a clanger to hand Mo Salah’s second goal on a plate.
Spurs could hardly say they had not been warned when Salah stuck the ball into the corner in the 11th minute.
Nunez had already been presented with a couple of chances and with one, his shot will have stung the left palm of Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris.
Uruguayan forward Nunez also delivered the assist for Salah who took one touch to control the pass before firing a shot past the outstretched leg of Ryan Sessegnon.
That opening goal woke Tottenham up.
They replied with a first decent attack of the game. Kane’s cross towards Ivan Perisic hit keeper Alisson in the face and the ball deflected backwards, hitting the post.
Alisson got lucky seconds later as he spilled a shot from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg but there were no home players to pounce.
Alexander-Arnold was also fortunate as he shoved Sessegnon in the back inside the area but it clearly was not hard enough to convince VAR to award a penalty.
Alexander-Arnold also delivered some other defensive mistakes and got away with them, unlike Dier.
Following a long punt from Alisson, Dier delivered a suicidal header into the path of Salah, and Liverpool’s Egyptian sprinted clear and took a couple of touches before lifting the ball over the advancing and totally exposed Lloris.
Not that they could be any worse, but Spurs were much better after the break.
Dier’s glancing header was saved by Alisson and Perisic struck a shot against the bar.
Some of Tottenham’s crosses, with Rodrigo Bentancur one of the offenders, were absolutely terrible.
Lloris denied Salah his hat-trick and Conte finally made some changes.
There was a big cheer when Dejan Kulusevski, out since September with a hamstring injury, replaced Ryan Sessegnon with just over 20 minutes left, with Matt Doherty also coming on.
The duo made an instant impression. Doherty released Kulusevski and his clever pass to Kane was met with a stunning finish.
Tempers became frayed and then Conte was handed his yellow card for getting stroppy and slapping a football out of the hands of a member of the Liverpool backroom team.
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And Spurs ran out of steam until the final minute when Bentancur, a yard from goal, came agonisingly close to getting on the end of Kane’s glancing header.
Yet on this occasion, although all the Spurs fans remained seated, there was no drama or mayhem.