Liverpool 4-2 Tottenham: Mohamed Salah on target as Reds dip Spurs’ Champions League hopes
Liverpool beat Tottenham 4-2 at Anfield to condemn the visitors to a fourth consecutive loss which leaves their hopes of Champions League qualification hanging by a thread.
The Reds were rampant for the opening hour, with Mohamed Salah, back in the side following his touchline spat with Jurgen Klopp against West Ham, heading them in front early on before Andrew Robertson added a second on the stroke of half-time.
Cody Gakpo then nodded Liverpool’s third after the break before Harvey Elliott punished poorer Tottenham defending with a stunning fourth from long range soon afterwards.
Ange Postecoglou’s side rallied to halve the deficit thanks to goals from substitute Richarlison and Heung-Min Son.
But in the end it was another painful afternoon for Spurs, who have lost four Premier League games in a row for the first time in 20 years and remain seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with only three games left to play.
For Liverpool, out of the title race in third place, the result at least raises hopes of a positive finish to Klopp’s final campaign in charge.
His header, from Cody Gakpo’s cross, was well-taken at the far post but it was poor from Tottenham’s perspective, with makeshift left-back Emerson Royal leaving him unmarked.
Liverpool continued to target the Brazilian, with Salah receiving plenty of support from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Elliott. Their second goal, after Spurs had survived a succession of other Liverpool chances, came from another attack down that side.
Robertson cleverly directed Alexander-Arnold’s cross into the path of Salah initially, and when the winger’s low, first-time effort was parried by Vicario, the left-back was on hand to convert the rebound, with the hapless Emerson playing him onside.
Tottenham defenders Emerson and Cristian Romero had to be separated by Vicario as tensions threatened to boil over as they walked off at the interval, and Spurs continued to collapse in the second half.
Emerson was partly at fault again as the excellent Elliot curled a stunning long-range effort into the top corner from 25 yards out soon after crossing for Gakpo to head the third.
It looked like a miserable afternoon could get even worse for Tottenham at that point as Liverpool continued to enjoy Klopp’s penultimate home game as manager, but the visitors made the scoreline respectable with two goals in the space of five minutes.
Those strikes added intrigue to the closing stages. Liverpool were indebted to substitute Joe Gomez for making a crucial, goal-line clearance to prevent Johnson from adding a Spurs third, but, that incident aside, the hosts looked the more likely scorers.
Salah had a goal chalked off for offside, substitutes Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai spurned good chances, and Alexander-Arnold saw an audacious long-range effort drop just over the bar, but four goals were more than enough in the end.
Liverpool move to 78 points in third, four behind second-placed Manchester City, while Tottenham are now looking over their shoulders, only four points ahead of sixth-placed Newcastle with three games still to play.