May 08, (THEWILL) – Tottenham held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Saturday night, putting a significant dent in Jurgen Klopp’s prospects of completing an unprecedented quadruple.
Liverpool finished top of the standings on goal difference ahead of Manchester City, but Pep Guardiola’s team now has a game in hand and may extend their lead to three points against Newcastle on Sunday.
Luis Diaz equalised with a deflected attempt in the last 15 minutes after Son Heung-min had opened the lead early in the second half.
From kick-off, both teams attempted to approach the game with intensity. Liverpool were relentless in their furious pressing, dominating the ball and making Tottenham work hard for everything.
Even though there were no goals in the first half, the game was interesting and both teams had chances. Hugo Lloris had to be fast at the Spurs’ end to knock away a poor header from Ryan Sessegnon to prevent Mohamed Salah nudging it in.
After Virgil van Dijk had too easily avoided marker Emerson Royal at a corner, his header skimmed the crossbar for Liverpool.
Lloris again parried a ferocious effort from Diaz cut in from the left in a final flurry of end-to-end activity before the half-time whistle. On the counter, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg sent a low effort from distance that hit the post and went wide, leaving Alisson scrambling.
As luck would have it, Spurs’ breakthrough came just as Liverpool’s press began to falter. It came from Lloris, who sent a long ball forward. Liverpool’s defence was all over the place, and Kane found Ryan Sessegnon, who squared the ball for a Son tap-in.
As the second half progressed, the Spurs defence did everything they could to hold their lead, with Cristian Romero and Ben Davies blocking everything in their path. Liverpool needed either a stroke of luck or a stroke of genius to go back to level, and it was the latter.
Diaz came in from the left flank, jinked past a couple of defenders, and set himself up for a shot that Rodrigo Bentancur could only get a toe on, putting the ball past the hapless Lloris.
Despite the equaliser, Spurs continued to frustrate Liverpool, and there was even a chance for the visitors to snare a late winner when Hojbjerg attempted to find Kane rather than going for goal himself. But the final score was 1-1.
The result sees Liverpool lead Manchester City on goal difference, but they will feel they have lost ground as their title rivals now have a game in hand. They had enough chances to win the game, but they must now focus on another important match on Tuesday when they travel to Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa.
The visitors’ point means they miss out on the chance to move above Arsenal, but they can make amends when they play their bitter North London rivals on Thursday in a crucial encounter in the race for the top four.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
