(Football news) Spurs will welcome Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday with the aim of closing their five point gap to Arsenal who face Chelsea while Jurgen Klopp’s side desperately need a win to salvage their season. Liverpool are currently eight points behind the top four places and have struggled for consistency this season but have proven they can beat any team on their day. The Reds are the only team who have defeated Manchester City, Newcastle United and Napoli so far but have also lost to Nottingham Forest and Leeds United in recent weeks.
Their defeat to Leeds at Anfield was their first at home since April 2017, resulting in Virgil van Dijk’s impressive home record finally coming to an end courtesy of Cresencio Summerville's 89th minute winner. The Reds can take solace in the fact that they have been consistently creating chances but have been found lacking in terms of finishing with both Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino squandering glorious opportunities. Klopp will undoubtedly want his team to be more clinical against Spurs on Sunday as defeat would mean they fall 13 points behind the top three teams, resulting in a third consecutive loss in the Premier League.
As for Tottenham, they will approach this fixture with plenty of confidence, having defeated Marseille 2-1 in the Champions League. It was the second successive match where they came from behind to secure a win and will remain in the top 4 irrespective of the result against Liverpool. Spurs will need to overcome a psychological barrier as they have failed to defeat the Reds in each of their last 10 encounters across all competitions. In team news, they will miss Heung-min Son due to a fractured eye socket along with Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski.
As for Liverpool, Ibrahima Konate is likely to be selected over Joe Gomez while Darwin Nunez will replace Curtis Jones on the left flank. Andy Robertson and Jordan Henderson are expected to be reinstated in the side after being rested against Napoli ahead of Kostas Tsimikas and James Milner. Meanwhile, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Arthur, Naby Keita and Joel Matip are still unavailable due to injury. A draw or a narrow victory for Liverpool seems like the most likely result from this fixture.
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