A Sunday afternoon goal fest ended in disappointment at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Liverpool ran out 6-3 winners in our final game before the festive period.
The visitors took an early hold on the contest with goals from Luis Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister and, although we hit back through a fine James Maddison strike, Liverpool led 3-1 at half-time after Dominik Szoboszlai scored in first-half stoppage time.
Mohamed Salah struck twice in seven second-half minutes to put Arne Slot’s side well and truly in control, although we rallied with a late double of our own as Dejan Kulusevski netted his fifth goal in five games and Dominic Solanke scored against his former club. However, any hopes of a famous comeback against the league leaders were extinguished in the 85th minute as Diaz scored his second of the game to make it 6-3.
It was a match filled with goalscoring opportunities which started in the third minute when Fraser Forster tried to play out by clipping a ball over Salah, however it was intercepted by the Liverpool forward although he could only drill the ball into the side-netting. Salah was in again on 10 minutes, found by a wonderful cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold only for Forster to save and Pape Matar Sarr to block Szoboszlai on the rebound.
Our first sight of goal came on 16 minutes, a typical back to front move which ended with Sarr firing wide from 22 yards out before, at the other end, Salah had two successive shots blocked by Djed Spence and then struck the crossbar with a right-footed drive. Liverpool were asking most of the questions at this stage and took the lead in the 23rd minute, Alexander-Arnold with another excellent delivery from the right flank which Diaz met with a header back across goal and into the far corner of the net.
We had a spell of possession as we looked for a quick response but couldn’t fashion a solid chance and instead, it was the visitors with the next goal on 36 minutes. Andy Robertson’s cross bounced up after Szoboszlai had challenged with Spence in the air and Mac Allister was quickest to react to head past Forster from eight yards out. The stadium felt quite deflated at that point, however the mood was dramatically lifted four minutes before the interval when Kulusevski won possession from Mac Allister 30 yards from goal, Maddison picked up the ball and drilled a smart finish past Alisson for 2-1. Unfortunately though, the Reds regained their two-goal advantage just a few minutes later as Szoboszlai flicked on Alexander-Arnold’s big clearance to Salah and broke forward to receive the Egyptian international’s pass before sliding past Forster from 10 yards.
It got worse for us nine minutes into the second half, Cody Gakpo sliding a ball across the six-yard box with Archie Gray twice blocking shots on the line only for the ball to land at the feet of Salah who tapped home from close range. A long ball from Alisson moments later put Szoboszlai clean through but he could only find the side-netting after rounding Forster, but on 61 minutes Szoboszlai was in again and this time squared for Salah to make it 5-1. Forster’s excellent diving save then kept out Alexander-Arnold’s dipping long-ranger.
We pulled a goal back with 18 minutes remaining after a series of near-misses, Kulusevski with a fine volley following Solanke’s neat clip over the top of the Liverpool defence. And, when Lucas Bergvall delivered a deep cross for Brennan Johnson to head back into the danger zone, Solanke was there to sweep the ball home to make it 5-3.
The goals kept coming though, another for the visitors with five minutes left as Salah slipped in Diaz and his angled drive beat Forster and nestled in the corner of the net. Alisson then made a superb stop to keep out a Johnson effort and with it went our last chance of salvaging anything from a difficult game.
Goals: Spurs – Maddison 41, Kulusevski 72, Solanke 83; Liverpool – Diaz 23, 85, Mac Allister 36, Szoboszlai 45+1, Salah 54, 61.
Yellow cards: Spurs – Bergvall; Liverpool – Gakpo, Szoboszlai.
Referee: Sam Barrott.
Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Weather: Light cloud, moderate breeze, seven degrees.
Attendance: 61,439.