Tottenham 1-2 Liverpool: Match Review
Hugo Ekitike scored his 11th goal of the season during Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
The striker bagged his 11th goal of the season since joining the Reds for up to £79 million in the summer transfer window. Alexander Isak gave Liverpool the lead against 10-man Spurs with a clinical 56th-minute finish.
Ekitike’s intervention proved to be decisive in North London. Tottenham reduced the arrears through Richarlison with eight minutes remaining and despite Romero being the second home player sent off - after Xavi Simons’ dismissal in the first period - they kept on pushing for an equaliser. Liverpool managed to hold out, though, to move up to fifth in the Premier League table.
And former Arsenal striker Wright saw no issue with Ekitike’s header as he jumped early and was on the way down. Speaking on Premier League Productions, Wright said: “It's a brilliant start to his Liverpool career, he has hit the ground running. He gets a bit of fortune with the deflection, which keeps the ball in the air a bit longer and gives him time to get up early.
“He's actually heading it on the way down. People are saying he's pushed him in the back, he's not, he's just got up early and is on the way down. It looks like his arms are doing something on the way down but it's not. It's a brilliant bit of football from him, he's on the way day and if you're Romero and you feel any touch, you're going to go down.”
Another great Premier League centre-forward agreed. Michael Owen hailed the accuracy that Ekitike managed to deliver with his header. Owen said: “It's a great point Wrighty makes about him coming down. If he's on his own there in the box, with no defender, he wouldn't time his jump like that. He'd meet it at its highest point. If you've got a defender in front of you, if you do that, he's going to win it.
“The only way is to go early and then you're higher. As you're coming down, the positive is you're above and can use your body and arms to head it first. The negative is you're losing power and the only way to score is to loop one into the far corner. It takes away the power but as long as you've got the accuracy, you get a head start on the defender.”
On his goal, Ekitike told Sky Sports: "It's part for the game. he is a defender, I'm a striker. I judged the cross better than he did and I took the ball. That is why I scored. That is his opinion, my opinion is that it was a great cross, a lucky header, but I did the right thing."
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