Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool are set to clash at least four times this season, having been drawn against each other in the two-legged semi-finals of the EFL Cup in early 2025. Spurs’ head coach, Ange Postecoglou, lavished praise on his team following their gritty 4-3 triumph over Manchester United in the competition on Thursday night, despite contending with no fewer than ten absentees. He lauded their consecutive competitive wins as “ridiculous” under the circumstances.
There’s no denying they’ll be shorthanded for this encounter, where Tottenham aim to secure only their third victory in their last 24 Premier League encounters with Liverpool (D6, L15), following a 2-1 home win last season. However, defying the odds seems improbable given their performance as underdogs throughout the 2024/25 season, where they have lost five out of seven such matches (W2).
Liverpool have impressively secured victory in 20 out of 23 matches as pre-game favourites across all tournaments this season (D2, L1), with their most recent triumph being a 2-1 EFL Cup success against Southampton. Manager Arne Slot, who was heavily linked with Tottenham Hotspur during the summer of 2023, is not expected to underestimate this match, particularly having previously considered them as title challengers alongside Liverpool just four weeks ago.
Slot’s perspective may have shifted since that time, but he faces some minor challenges of his own to address before proclaiming Liverpool are back to peak form. After winning four out of their first five Premier League games ‘to nil’ under the Dutch manager, Liverpool have managed only three clean sheets in their subsequent ten matches. Nonetheless, they have remained unbeaten during this ten-game stretch (W7, D3), even when trailing in five of those contests.
Notable players to keep an eye on include Son Heung-min, who shares the record for the most Premier League assists (68) by a Spurs player. He is also likely to draw attention for having scored in each of his last five games against Liverpool. Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah is on the verge of making history by becoming the first player in the league to achieve at least ten goals and ten assists before Christmas in a single season (currently G13, A9).
Interesting fact: Tottenham have been defeated in nine out of their last 11 Premier League games against teams that began the day at the top of the table.
