Liverpool assumed the role of chief Champions League football challengers as they moved into fifth place after a frankly bizarre late 4-3 win over Tottenham.
A week after conceding five in the opening 21 minutes at Newcastle, history started to repeat itself after another shambolic opening to a game from Spurs, who were 3-0 down inside 15 minutes courtesy of goals from Curtis Jones, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah.
That the visitors got back on level terms through Harry Kane – equalling Wayne Rooney’s 208 Premier League total – Son Heung-min and Richarlison, in added time, said as much about the home side’s sloppiness when cruising as it did Tottenham’s powers of recovery which had earned them a come-from-behind draw against Manchester United on Thursday.
However, there was one final twist as straight from the kick-off following Richarlison’s equaliser, Diogo Jota scored his fifth goal in four appearances to snatch victory and stay in the race – albeit outsiders – for the top four, seven points behind Manchester United having played one match more.
It may have been a different Spurs interim manager – Ryan Mason now in charge after Cristian Stellini’s sacking – and a different formation but the same problems were present with a lack of intensity and understanding of the task at hand leaving the visitors wide open in the early stages.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, continuing in his new hybrid right-back midfield role, can open up most teams even without the assistance he was given by a lack of pressure on him.
His cross to the far post demanded to be fired home and Jones did just that for his first goal since September 2021, in doing so making Alexander-Arnold the first player in Premier League history to twice provide an assist in five consecutive games.
His recent form in his new role will have had the watching England manager Gareth Southgate wondering whether he can afford to adopt it himself, having left the 24-year-old out of his last squad.
Liverpool doubled their advantage two minutes later when Diaz, making his first start since October, showed greater desire than Cristian Romero to meet Cody Gakpo’s cut-back with a smartly-taken volley.
Harvey Elliott’s brilliant through-ball picked out Gakpo, exploiting the scarcely believable spaces in Spurs’ back five, but he was eventually squeezed out by Romero.
The suffering Spurs fans chanted ‘We want our money back’, having this week been offered a refund for their St James’ Park…
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