RAMPANT LIVERPOOL HIT Tottenham for six to ensure they hold a four-point advantage at the Premier League summit come Christmas.
The Reds produced a masterful attacking display in north London with Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah on target twice in a 6-3 victory.
It was a thoroughly-deserved success for Arne Slot’s men and made it 21 wins in 25 matches since the Dutch coach replaced Jurgen Klopp this summer in further evidence Liverpool are the best team in the country right now.
Spurs – who had eight players missing – could never reach the energy levels of a midweek Carabao Cup quarter-final triumph over Manchester United and were 5-1 down at one point before they rallied, but Ange Postecoglou’s side remain 11th after an eight league loss of the season.
This was a dress rehearsal ahead of the League Cup semi-finals, but Liverpool were already assured of top spot at Christmas after Chelsea’s goalless draw at Everton earlier in the day.
Spurs exerted a big physical effort on Thursday, which was not helped by two errors from Fraser Forster, who would have hoped for a serene start but chipped straight to Salah after three minutes only for the Liverpool forward to hit the side-netting.
It was a warning sign not heeded as the visitors continued to dictate and Forster had to save from Salah before Pape Sarr slid in to thwart Dominik Szoboszlai.
Slot’s men continued to probe as Cody Gakpo blazed an effort over and Djed Spence denied Salah with two blocks in quick succession.
Another twist and turn inside the area by Salah fashioned a chance, but he fired against the crossbar under pressure from Archie Gray.
It still felt only a matter of time before Liverpool scored and the breakthrough arrived in the 23rd minute.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was given too much space and his cross from deep picked out the unmarked Diaz to head home for his 10th goal of the season.
One quickly became two as Alexis Mac Allister nodded in after 36 minutes to put the away side in cruise control.
An Andrew Robertson cross caused problems this time and after Szoboszlai made a nuisance inside the Spurs penalty area, Mac Allister beat the onrushing Forster to make it 2-0.
Tottenham did rally, with Son Heung-min sending a left-footed strike over before Liverpool gifted the hosts a goal back.
Mac Allister was too slack in possession and robbed by Dejan Kulusevski, which allowed James Maddison to carry the ball forward and curl home for his eighth goal of the season.
Maddison urged the crowd to believe, but Liverpool showed their ruthless streak with a third in the second minute of first-half stoppage-time.
Radu Dragusin was beaten in the air by Szoboszlai, who received the ball back from Salah and slid under Forster for a brilliant breakaway effort.
It was 4-1 nine minutes into the second half when Tottenham were caught out in transition and Liverpool scored a classic breakaway effort.
Diaz combined with Gakpo, whose cross was half-cleared by Gray, who then blocked Szoboszlai’s follow-up effort but Salah was on hand to tap home.
Not long after Szoboszlai fired into the side-netting, he brilliantly teed up Salah for Liverpool’s fifth.
Spurs were again cut open by a counter-attack as Szoboszlai was played through and selflessly passed to Salah, who grabbed his 18th goal of the season in simple fashion.
Only a flying save by Forster to deny Alexander-Arnold’s piledriver prevented another before Tottenham did rally.
Kulusevski led the charge and reduced the deficit – with 18 minutes left – with a fine volley from Dominic Solanke’s chipped pass to score for a fifth-consecutive match.
The Spurs supporters stayed with their team and were rewarded with another goal in the 83rd minute as Solanke fired home on the turn from Brennan Johnson’s header.
Tottenham’s fun quickly ended when Diaz expertly rifled into the bottom corner two minutes later after another Salah assist to secure another statement result for leaders Liverpool.
Written by Press Association and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say