Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool (2024-25)

General

Players

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool (2024–25)

Tottenham Liverpool 3 6
HT:1–3 Report
Event	Premier League 2024-25
Date	Sunday 22 December 2024
Venue	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Player of the Match	Mohamed Salah
Referee	Samuel Barrott
Attendance	61,439
Weather	7 °C (44 °F)
← Spurs - Man Utd Liverpool - S'hampton Spurs - Nottm Forest Liverpool - Leicester →

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool was a match which took place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday 22 December 2024.

Team News

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham left-back Destiny Udogie is expected to return after overcoming a minor thigh issue.

Forward Timo Werner missed the midweek victory over Manchester United due to illness but he should be available for selection.

Head coach Ange Postecoglou remains without a raft of senior players, including Ben Davies, Cristian Romero, Micky van der Ven and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Liverpool

Liverpool full-back Andrew Robertson is back after serving a one-match ban.

Defenders Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate are suffering from respective hamstring and knee problems and are the only confirmed absentees.

Match facts

Head-to-head

• Tottenham have won just two of their previous 25 clashes with Liverpool in all competitions, drawing six and losing 17.
• However, Spurs could win consecutive home league games against the Reds for the first time since a run of five between 2008 and 2012.
• Liverpool have suffered just one defeat in five Premier League visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, drawing one and winning three.

Tottenham Hotspur

• The previous two matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have produced 14 goals: seven for the home side and seven for the away side.
• The Lilywhites have kept just one clean sheet in their past 23 Premier League home games, in a 4-0 win against Everton in August.
• Tottenham have lost nine of their past 11 Premier League matches against sides starting the day top of the table, with their sole draw and win both coming away against Manchester City.
• Spurs have scored a league-high nine goals in the opening 15 minutes of fixtures this season.
• Son Heung-min is vying to become the first Premier League player to score in six consecutive games against Liverpool.
• Dejan Kulusevski has found the net in four successive games in all competitions for the first time.

Liverpool

• Liverpool have lost just one of their 24 games in all competitions this season, drawing three and winning 20.
• However, they've dropped points in their past two top-flight outings, drawing away to Newcastle and at home to Fulham.
• The Reds are the only unbeaten away side in the Premier League this term, with five wins and two draws from seven fixtures.
• Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in 71% of Liverpool's Premier League goals during this campaign, with 13 goals and nine assists.
• The Egyptian has scored in six of Liverpool's seven Premier League away fixtures, failing to find the net in the 1-0 win at Crystal Palace in October.
• Diogo Jota is one short of 100 league goals.

Match Report

Liverpool went four points clear at the top of the Premier League as they handed out a merciless thrashing to Tottenham Hotspur in front of their own fans.

Arne Slot's pacesetters were simply irresistible as every frailty in an injury-hit Spurs team was ruthlessly exposed.

Liverpool had already had several opportunities before Luis Diaz headed in Trent Alexander-Arnold's perfect cross after 23 minutes, Alexis Mac Allister doubling their lead with another header 13 minutes later.

James Maddison gave Spurs hope of an unlikely comeback when he curled in his eighth goal of the season four minutes before half-time but that was snuffed out in first-half stoppage time when Mohamed Salah set up Dominik Szoboszlai for a simple finish.

Spurs, with a lengthy list of absentees and fielding an unchanged team having played a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Manchester United on Thursday, looked leg-weary, leaving them wide open to further punishment from this smooth Liverpool machine.

Salah drew level with Billy Liddell's record of 228 Liverpool goals when he extended Liverpool's advantage from close range after 54 minutes, then went into fourth place in the club's all-time list of scorers on his own when Szoboszlai repaid the first-half compliment to play the Egyptian in for his second.

Dejan Kulusevski scored for the fifth successive game with 18 minutes left, while another from Dominic Solanke threatened to give the scoreline an unrealistic appearance until Diaz swooped for his second and Liverpool's sixth.

Liverpool have dropped points in each of their past two Premier League games, with draws at Newcastle United and at home to Fulham, but this was as convincing a return to winning ways as possible as they confirmed once again that they are the team to beat in the title race.

Tottenham provided the perfect opponents for a Liverpool team almost groaning under the weight of attacking talent, the 6-3 scoreline hugely flattering to Ange Postecoglou's bedraggled team, who were outclassed from the first whistle.

Salah inevitably got in on the act as he went ahead of Anfield legend Liddell in the club's scoring charts with that second-half double, but there were stellar performances elsewhere, although Slot will ask questions about how his side conceded three goals.

The scale of Salah's achievement is illustrated by the fact he now has 229 goals in 373 games. Liddell scored 228 in 534 games, his 228th goal coming in his 526th appearance.

Diaz and Szoboszlai were the other star turns, the Colombian enjoying a better day at Spurs than last season, when he had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside in Liverpool's 2-1 defeat.

Szoboszlai relished the freedom Spurs afforded him, racing clear to convert Salah's pass to make it 3-1 right on half-time, effectively ending the contest, then returning the favour after the break.

Liverpool's fans gave their team a rapturous reception after the final whistle, belief growing that the Premier League title will return to Anfield at the end of this season.

There was a mood of discontent around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium even before kick-off when several hundred supporters staged a protest against chairman Daniel Levy, black balloons being released in the 24th minute to mark the number of years the current hierarchy have been in control, with the last success coming in the 2008 League Cup.

If there was hope the performance of the team would lift spirits, this was soon snuffed out as Liverpool set about exploiting Spurs' weaknesses and reduced circumstances from the first whistle.

No-one should be fooled by the scoreline. This was a brutal defeat, three goals providing no consolation, with the only surprise being Liverpool did not score more.

It has been a typically topsy-turvy week for Spurs under Postecoglou, hugely entertaining but showing the two contrasting sides of this team, first in the dramatic 4-3 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United before shipping six goals here.

Spurs and Liverpool meet in the EFL Cup semi-final over two legs and every piece of evidence here suggested it would need a major shift in quality and approach for Postecoglou to fashion a different outcome and reach Wembley.

Match

Details

22 December 2024 16:30 GMT	Tottenham	3–6	Liverpool	Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London Attendance: 61,439 Referee: Samuel Barrott
	Maddison  41' Kulusevski  72' Solanke  83'	HT:1–3 Report	Díaz  23', 85' Allister  36' Szoboszlai  45+1' Salah  54', 61'

Tottenham

Liverpool

20 Fraser Forster 23 Pedro Porro 06 Radu Drăgușin 14 Archie Gray 24 Djed Spence 29 Pape Matar Sarr 58' 08 Yves Bissouma 21 Dejan Kulusevski 10 James Maddison 58' 07 Son Heung-min 82' 19 Dominic Solanke Substitutes: 03 Sergio Reguilón 13 Destiny Udogie 15 Lucas Bergvall 58' 79' 16 Timo Werner 82' 22 Brennan Johnson 58' 40 Brandon Austin 42 Will Lankshear 48 Alfie Dorrington 64 Callum Latif Olusesi Manager: Ange Postecoglou

01 Alisson 66 Trent Alexander-Arnold 02 Joe Gomez 04 Virgil van Dijk 26 Andrew Robertson 38 Ryan Gravenberch 10 Alexis Mac Allister 68' 11 Mohamed Salah 87' 08 Dominik Szoboszlai 52' 18 Cody Gakpo 68' 31' 07 Luis Díaz 87' Substitutes: 03 Wataru Endō 09 Darwin Núñez 87' 17 Curtis Jones 68' 19 Harvey Elliott 87' 20 Diogo Jota 68' 21 Konstantinos Tsimikas 62 Caoimhín Kelleher 78 Jarell Quansah 98 Trey Nyoni Manager: Arne Slot

Man of the Match: Mohamed Salah Assistant referees: Lee Betts Wade Smith Fourth official: Michael Oliver VAR: Paul Tierney Assistant VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis

Match rules 90 minutes, no extra time or penalties. Three points awarded to winner, none to loser. One point awarded to each in the event of a draw. Nine named substitutes Maximum of five substitutions

Match Stats

Tottenham Hotspur	Liverpool

Possession ball
51%	49%

Shots
9	24

Shots on target
5	12

Corners
7	5

Fouls
7	9

See also

• 2024–25 Premier League: Match day 17

External links

• Match report at BBC.co.uk
• Match report at Premier League.com

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