Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur – Preview

Well, we did it. We passed through one of our most nervy days on the football calendar without harm, and now we can push on for the rest of the season.

Our victory in the North London derby proved we our New Year’s Day defeat of Chelsea was no fluke- we can handle the big fixtures once again. And what better time to be confident of this than with an away day at Anfield.

We haven’t beaten Liverpool in our last four attempts after going the previous six unbeaten. In the reverse fixture back in August, we were unlucky to succumb to such a heavy defeat. If we had buried the barrage of early chances we had, we probably would have seen off the Reds.

Both Liverpool and ourselves are in a season of transition, but a good run of form; we have picked up a combined 40 points since December 14th. Whilst Brendan Rodgers has been experimenting with various systems, ours have been adjusting well to Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy.

One player certainly making the most of the system is world-headliner Harry Kane. The home-grown forward has combined his tenacious work rate and gritty determination with his abundance of ability to excel in this system, and is undoubtedly one of the first names on the team sheet week in week out.

After such a shift against Arsenal, one wonders whether the team can repeat their efforts on Merseyside. In the past, we’ve come undone due to the tight fixture schedule, but we can benefit from the fact we don’t play again until next Thursday after this.

It’s not unlikely that we’ll be brave enough to deploy such a high pressing system at Anfield; our trip to Stamford Bridge saw us dominate the first 15 minutes, nearly scoring three times before shipping that same amount. A side as defensively fragile as Liverpool, however, could crumble to such pressure.

In terms of team news, I don’t expect many changes. Although we played as recently as Saturday, the 9 day cushion following this fixture could tempt Poch into keeping the balance of the team in order.

Our fixture list doesn’t get much brighter after this, with a London derby with West Ham United sandwiched between Europa League ties with Italian outfit Fiorentina, and a League Cup final on March 1st. During the remainder of the season, we have encounters with at Manchester United and Southampton, whilst hosting Manchester City. We proved against Arsenal and Chelsea that we can mix it with the big boys, and we’ll need results in those games if we’re to stand a chance of making the top four. Even though we didn’t start the season with that as an objective, a result at Liverpool would certainly put us amongst the favourites to claim a place there.

Since the departure of Luis Suarez, Liverpool’s Anfield fortress has looked a little wobbly. In their last five home games, the Reds have won just twice. The return of striker Daniel Sturridge could signal a change of fortune for the, though, and we’ll need to be at our best if we’re to silence another side in red.

We have our own strengths though, and the North London derby highlighted that we can cope even if our best players aren’t at the races. Christian Eriksen was fairly anonymous and Danny Rose was rinsed in the build-up to Arsenal’s goal, but every player in the eleven did enough in order to secure the win. The match was never really out of our control, and most of the 90 minutes was spent in the Arsenal half.

The lack of pace in Arsene Wenger’s side could be attributed to their lack of bite going forward, whereas Liverpool certainly don’t struggle in that department. Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge, Lazar Markovic and Alberto Moreno have the energy and speed to hurt us, and we’ll have to be organised defensively to stop them.

Our matches with Liverpool are always a great source of entertainment; a win in this encounter will set us up nicely in the race for Champions League qualification.

Predicted XI: Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason; Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli; Kane