Liverpool vs Tottenham: Opposition Corner

Liverpool host Spurs on Sunday knowing they need to win to re-establish their six point lead at the top of the Premier League following Manchester City’s 3-0 victory over Aston Villa.

We’re set to welcome back Trent Alexander-Arnold after a virus and, but may still be without Joel Matip as he struggles to return from injury, with Dejan Lovren tipped to keep his place in the side. Another question for Jurgen Klopp is the midfield, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be pushing to start after his brace in Genk, whilst Naby Keita also impressed. Gini Wijnaldum’s place in the team seems a given, so Jordan Henderson may be punished for some poor form with Klopp having plenty of options as the Reds head into the busiest period of the season over the next couple of months.

There’s never a good time to play Spurs, but Pochettino’s men have struggled this season and find themselves with just 12 points from 8 games, without an away league win in January. A 5-0 win against Red Star will have boosted confidence heading to Anfield and it will certainly be a tougher game than many will imagine. To help preview the game, I spoke to Tottenham fan Nozrul Ahmed (@NozAhmed) to get his view on Spurs this season, and the game on Sunday.

Hi Noz, thanks for taking part, it’s fair to say that both teams have taken completely different paths since the Champions League final, what has gone wrong at Spurs this season?

A variety of different reasons, I’d say.

We saw the effects of the things going wrong this season at the turn of the year. We dropped off a level and never really got going again consistently enough – sure, we have had a handful of great performances but ultimately, we have struggled to find the consistency we had a couple of seasons ago.

Players being out of contract next summer, some players wanting to be moved on but their moves not materialising, and the squad not being refreshed adequately has impacted us hugely. I still believe we’re paying the consequences of not buying anyone last season which is the biggest reason for why we have dropped off so much.

The core of our title-challenging sides in 2016 and 2017 are still at the club – players have aged, some have their heads at another club (I’m looking at you, Eriksen), and others are just simply no longer good enough.

It’s obviously not been the best start for Spurs, what would be an ideal season after the highs of last year?

Top four.

It may sound small time but this is the reality.

Finishing in the top four is a must for the club. For us to continue progressing, we need to be in the Champions League. Finishing outside the top four will have a massive impact on us next season, may cause more of our star players to leave in the summer, and will quite obviously pull our hands further back from refreshing the squad with the right type of players we need to get back to the top end of the table.

I would say I want a trophy too, but do the club feel the same way? I’m not sure. Winning an FA Cup (I say this every season but it just never happens!) would be great for the manager, players and fans alike. We’re yet to taste the sweetness of that final level of winning a trophy – we have seen the team play some exciting and attacking football over the last few seasons, but we are yet to witness that final destination. A fifth successive season of finishing in the top four and winning the FA Cup would be the ideal season for me.

Pochettino has been in charge for a long time now, do you feel that Spurs under him have peaked or is there more to come from Spurs under his leadership?

I’m a huge believer in loyalty. He has been loyal to us when he could have left last season but he instead signed a new deal and committed himself to Spurs.

I do believe he can turn it around and I am completely braced to allow this season to be a free-hit for him. I hope he plays the players who want to stay at the club and drop those whose heads are just no longer in it like they were a couple of years ago; a little similar to what he had to do in his first season at the club.

He mentioned when we got to the Champions League final that the semi-final at Amsterdam marked the end of the current project at Spurs. It was time to open a new chapter and he emphasised it would be a ‘painful’ rebuild on multiple occasions. Pochettino saw the problems of this season coming a while ago and it simply wasn’t possible to fix all those problems in one summer.

I do believe if we keep him, for as long as he personally believes he can still turn things around, then we will be back to, or possibly even better than, the Spurs we saw under Pochettino a couple of years ago.

Spurs did well to get to Madrid despite making no signings, a policy which changed in the summer. How would you rate Spurs’ extensive summer business?

If I were to give it a rate out of 10, I’d say 7.5.

I was extremely excited when we signed Ndombele and I genuinely believe he’s going to be an absolute superstar for us – I followed him closely when he played for Olympique Lyonnais as I have a friend who supports Lyon. I didn’t think we would actually sign him, and I still remain stunned that the likes of Madrid or even City didn’t blow us out of the water when we came in for him.

I’m also excited to see Lo Celso and Sessegnon play for us although neither of them have played much (Sessegnon hasn’t even been in a matchday squad so far) for us yet. We signed Jack Clarke from Leeds but sent him back on loan as part of the deal where he isn’t getting into Bielsa’s squad, ever – so that one is really frustrating. I wanted us to sign another right-back to replace Kieran Trippier who had gone to Atletico Madrid which is why I haven’t rated our transfer business higher. But like I said, it’s impossible to fix all of our problems at once, but I’m sure the club will address these issues in the coming windows; including getting rid of a few players who simply aren’t up to scratch any longer.

Spurs have had a tendency of leaving big-name players out of games recently; is that something we’re likely to see at Anfield?

I have absolutely no idea.

Pochettino has a knack of plucking a surprise out of the air when we play in big games, especially. However, I honestly hope Eriksen stays on the bench from now on. As good as he is, or once was for us, it’s clear he no longer wants to play for Spurs, and no player is bigger than the club. If his head is elsewhere, we’re better off keeping him out of the team instead of watching him fail to beat the first man from a corner, or hit the wall from a free-kick.

If anything, I hope the team from midweek is only slightly tweaked and most of the players who played on Tuesday night keep their places for the game on Sunday. But then again, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Pochettino decides to completely switch everything up and bring in three or four of the players he left out during the week.

Liverpool have been impressive this season in terms of points gathered whilst being generally underwhelming. What are you expecting from the Reds and who do you fear most?

They absolutely have been impressive.

People will say it is luck, and you know what, maybe it does boil down to luck, but it’s the luck that champions of past years have had in abundance. For example, the blunder by the goalkeeper when Liverpool played Sheffield United, that kind of thing only goes for you when you’re right at the top of the league. The kind of luck that takes a team from contenders to champions, and really drives them to genuinely believe they could go all the way.

I expect Liverpool to start fast after dropping points at Old Trafford last Sunday. We’ll do well to keep the score at 0-0 in the first 15-20 minutes given our history at Anfield and our horrible away form. I have always liked Mane and I think he’s going to be the player that causes our defence the most problem. Genuinely might just cover my eyes every time he gets on the ball. One of the best players in the world and criminally underrated, in my opinion.

Who do you think will win the league: Liverpool or Manchester City?

Honestly, Liverpool.

I don’t think City are as good as they were last season and the season before. I also believe they will prioritise the Champions League more this season, and after winning the league two seasons in a row, naturally the will to win the title again drops for players. Liverpool accumulated 97 points last season and it is just actual insanity that it wasn’t enough to see them win the league.

Actual insanity.

But I do believe they’ll go all the way this season. It’s still October and a couple of key injuries, a few bad results, and everything could turn upside down; but if Liverpool can continue to keep their players fit without losing anyone to a long-term injury, there is no reason why they can’t go all the way this season. It will be interesting to see how their involvement in the Club World Cup affects them given it’s halfway during the season and it just happens to fall during the busiest month of the season.

Finally, what’s your score prediction?

My brave prediction? 2-2. My realistic prediction? 3-1 Liverpool. I just don’t see us getting much joy here after being winless away from home in the league since 20^th January.

A whole 9 months. Bloody hell, Tottenham.

I’m not sure how great Liverpool’s record at Anfield actually is, but I’m pretty sure it’s quite brilliant. Can’t recall the last time Liverpool have lost there off the top of my head. Combining all of these factors with how poor our away form is, there’s only one outcome for this game, sadly. Then again, it would just be Spursy of us to roll up to Anfield and just pull the shock result of the season on the back of losing 3-0 at Brighton and just about holding Watford to a draw at home. 

You never know, football could be a funny old game sometimes, and I pray Sunday is one of those days for us.

A 3-1 win would certainly suit us! The Reds have been impressive at home for a long time now and an improved performance in Genk will certainly improve confidence after the dismal draw at Old Trafford. Hopefully the power of Anfield gets us another three points and extends our lead at the top to 6 points.