NB: Video on this article has been removed in accordance to international license restrictions.
By Greg Robertson
Welcome football fans to Anfield where we have Liverpool V Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.
At the minute, there’s no one hotter in world football that Spurs Gareth Bale. We’ll see if Liverpool can put a halt to his streak today.
We bring you live streaming written commentary, video highlights and all the action of the EPL. Make sure you REFRESH your browser occasionally so you don’t miss any of the action.
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LIVE COMMENTARY... Liverpool 3 – 2 Tottenham
FINAL 3-2 to Liverpool That's fulltime... Liverpool hangs on to win. All video is up. Thanks for coming.
88 MINS: Technical issues with television coverage but it's still 3-2 to Liverpool. VIDEO UP
83 MINS: Suarez and Dembele tapping each other in the face... not in a nice way and Michael Oliver gets right in there fast to settle it. PENALTY! Suarez goes down under a challenge from Assou-Ekotto and Oliver points to the spot. Gerrard slots it! That's 158 Liverpool goals fro Gerrard! VIDEO UP.
78 MINS: Sturridge is played through and he goes down in the area under some heat from Vertonghen.... nothing in it and Sturridge made a bit of a meal there. Vertonghen was leaning on him at best but, in the end, it was Sturridge that was lucky not to get carded one feels.
75 MINS: Bale with a header that flies just wide, well no, well wide actually. That was Carragher that put just enough pressure on the force Bale to head wide.
69 MINS: Liverpool with a corner, driven in and it causes problems. Only cleared for a little as Sturridge runs it back, beats Vertonghen, then Vertonghen gets the ball back. Great defending.
66 MINS: Tottenham have taken this by the scruff of the neck. Suddenly - GOAL LIVERPOOL! - from no where. A mistake by Lloris and Kyle Walker and Dowing punces. A shocking backpass and Lloris comes out of the area, gets into trouble and leaves the ball for Dowing who smashes it through the legs of Vertonghen who has managed to get back on the goal line. Where did that come from? VIDEO UP.
61 MINS: What has happened to the Liverpool defence? It's gone missing! Dembele gets the ball on the edge of the box and has a crack while a number of Liverpool defenders just sit back and watch him play. Jones beats it away but he might raise his voice a level or two at that. Liverpool still in this though, for sure, for sure.
58 MINS: Vertonghen now gets a yellow card as he handballs to prevent a fast break.... Parker feeds Defoe, back to goal, spins and shoots but doesn't get enough of the ball to steer it where he wants. Coutinho coming off for Liverpool and Joe Allen is on. Interesting change that. Suarez pulls a little wider to the left.
54 MINS: GOAL! What a goal! Two for Vertonghen, two for Tottenham! Free kick from deep flew in from bale and the Liverpool defence just doesn't deal to it, falls to the Belgian who swivels on his right peg and smashes it into the corner with his left. VIDEO UP SOON.
51 MINS: First half-chance falls for Liverpool with Suarez finding acres of space but Enrique doesn't read what he's up to and when the ball comes in there's Liverpool players asking each other questions and groans throughout Anfield.. Defoe with a great run at the other end and Jones gets down to pad it away. Game opening up.
48 MINS: All to play for in this second period... We're underway. Spurs with the early use but it's taking... going a little end-to-end right now without incisive thrust from either.
HALFTIME 1-1
45 MINS: GOAL TOTTENHAM! Bale comes back on and then delivers a stunning ball to the back post, Vertonghen up the highest and gets enough of a head to it to find the corner. VIDEO UP. Three added minutes.
43 MINS: Bale down and in big trouble.... Gerrard with the header into the back of his head.... not a huge amount in it... robust is all. Bale now sitting up. Bit of a stop in play here.
40 MINS: Sturridge with an ambitious shot right at Lloris and he sucks it into his chest with ease. That was a brief respite from the Spurs attack that is unrelenting right now... Assou-Ekotto hits one and it's easy for Jonjes. Ctaching height with no power. Things getting tetchy out there... Suarez getting called out, card ready... it was an earlier tangle with Parker... Michael Oliver with some good reffing there, no need for cards, just a touch of tangled legs.
37 MINS: Despite nothing to trouble Jones in the Liverpool goal as yet, this has been better from Tottenham... and here we go, Dembele with a little run, Bale with a flick and Sigurdsson just wide. He should have done better and at elast hit the target. Spurs squeezing the game right now. VIDEO UP
35 MINS: Bale comes deeper to collect and he's off on one of his runs, four players sweep on him as he enters the penalty area and Bale's shot is wide, shooting well off balance. Well wide too.
33 MINS: Sunshine breaks through... the clouds that is... Vertonghen, off to Defoe.... here we go, Livermore, Defoe.... ebb and flow right now, Spurs striving forward, Bale blasts it high wide and unhandsome. Better from the Tottenham side though. Sweeping play.
30 MINS: Suarez now gets in behind the last line of defence following a bending through ball with the outside of the foot from Coutinho. Flag goes up - harsh. But what a ball and what a player Coutinho is. Flash, and we're at the other end but Bale fires it straight at Jones without any venom.
27 MINS: Gerrard with a piercing ball that's gathered in with finesse by Downing, he crosses and it takes a deflection and requires a reaction header to clear. Suarez in space and shoots Ohhh saved by Lloris. That should have been given to Sturridge who had pulled of his marker. VIDEO UP
24 MINS: It's absolutely all Liverpool right now. VIDEO UP of the goal. That was Suarez's 50th goal fro Liverpool in 91 appearances.
21 MINS: The movement... the finish... GOAL TO SUAREZ! Classic stuff. Coutinho with absolute brilliance and a magical backflick, Enrique one two with Coutinho, then he finds Suarez and he slots it home. Lloris didn't even see that coming.
20 MINS: Nearly every Liverpool player touching the ball on the edge of the area as they all try and set up to strike, Spurs scramble doesn't give them a chance. Brazilian Coutinho showing some flair, wide, left, cuts in and tries to bend one from an impossible angle - impossible, that is, if you're not from Brazil. He wasn't far away.
17 MINS: Great work from Spurs despite it coming to nothin', Walker down the right has two Liverpool players tracking him, cuts back, feeds, the square, into bale's feed and the result is a deflected shot that doesn't trouble Jones. Nice build up.
14 MINS: Defoe with some lovely control with his back to goal gets Spurs heading in the right direction even though he's facing the other way. A long ball is too searching and only finds the touchline. Suarez now... great tackle coming in from Dawson. For Liverpool, Sturridge and Coutinho have settled the best. Spurs, still trying to get there.
11 MINS: Spurs yet with a venture into teh top third of the pitch.... first chance though as Agger takes down Dembele when he cuts back onto his left peg as expected. Here we go... Bale's first dead ball chance... 26 yards out...IT'S A DIPPER and Brad Jones can't handle it at all. Knocks it away, beats it away anywhere unflattering for the keeper. VIDEO UP
7 MINS: BIG CHANCE for Liverpool as Coutinho plays in Sturridge and he gets the first touch to the ball ahead of a charging Lloris from his line, but his touch is too heavy and pushes it too wide. A light dab and it would have been a tap into an empty net. VIDEO UP
5 MINS: No chances as yet as things begin to settle.... what an atmosphere... Sturridge with the first shot and a burst of acceleration, wide is the shot. VIDEO UP
3 MINS: Coutinho taking things wide for Liverpool and he's being double-teamed. He was in sparkling form last week.
1 MINS: Suarez caught offside within 20 seconds of the off. Spurs will a long speculator... Bale starting in the middle with Dembele on the right... Suarez almost in, gets the ball with space centre field and spreads it right, gets the return but it's great defence from Spurs' Walker.
One minute to the off... Spurs in a huddle like an American grid iron team. We're off!!!
Shake, shake, shake go the hands... and I have no need to explain what song is blaring throughout Anfield.
Huge day for Carragher playing his 500th. Teams are in the tunnel and both are in cracking form so this on will smoke I'm sure - we've got Suarez, we've got Bale, we've got a game on! This on is for the purists.
Here we have our live pictures from Anfield... this one will be a cracker...ok the BIG NEWS is that Brad Jones is in goal for Liverpool with Reina out through injury.
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Possible Teams
Liverpool: Reina, Carragher, Agger, Johnson, Jose Enrique, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Suarez Coutinho, Sturridge. Subs from Jones, Gulacsi, Downing, Skrtel, Allen, Sterling, Shelvey, Wisdom, Coates, Suso, Robinson, Assaidi.
Spurs: Lloris, Vertonghen, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Walker, Dembele, Parker Sigurdsson, Holtby, Bale, Defoe. Subs from Friedel, Naughton, Caulker, Gallas, Carroll, Lennon, Huddlestone, Livermore, Falqué, Dempsey, Adebayor
Pregame banter
After enhancing its status as the new power in London, Tottenham can set about disrupting the hegemony of the two big guns from Manchester by beating Liverpool in the English Premier League's standout match this weekend.
The Tottenham of recent years would be starting to fade at this stage of the season but the class of 2013, led by Gareth Bale, has a tougher look to it.
The team is on the brink of the Europa League quarterfinals after a convincing 3-0 win over Inter Milan in the first leg of the last 16 on Thursday (UKT), while a 12-match unbeaten run has lifted Spurs to third place in the Premier League, above London rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.
With second-place Manchester City in FA Cup action this weekend, Tottenham can move within two points of the champions with a win at Anfield on Sunday.
"It is a great time to be at the club, we are playing with great players and the sky is the limit," Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe said. "It is the winning mentality that I think we have got now. In games when things aren't going great, everyone gets stuck in and just keeps going, it is a good thing to have.
"We've not just got a great team now, but a great squad."
The match will see the two in-form forwards in the Premier League – Bale and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez - go head-to-head.
By scoring against Inter, Bale took his haul to 11 goals in his past nine games in all competitions. Suarez's hat trick in the 4-0 win at Wigan last weekend put him at the top of the league's scoring chart with 21 and saw him become only the third Liverpool player, after Robbie Fowler and Fernando Torres, to pass 20 goals in a Premier League campaign.
British media reported Friday that Suarez's exploits have earned him a pay raise, allegedly doubling his weekly salary from £40,000 a week to £80,000 a week.
"I don't know if I am in the very best scoring form of my life, but certainly I am enjoying a bit of what every striker needs and that is a little bit of luck," Suarez said. "Last season, chances weren't going in, whereas this year they are."
Liverpool hasn't given up hope of finishing in the top four, even though it is 12 points behind Tottenham heading into Sunday's match.
"We've been in good form recently and it's a good opportunity to reduce the gap between ourselves and Spurs," Suarez said. "There is a slight chance we can make Champions League football - and if we want to do that, this is the sort of game we need to win."
Tottenham, which has won only twice at Anfield in the Premier League era, could be without Aaron Lennon after the winger went off against Inter with a hamstring injury, but striker Emmanuel Adebayor is back in the squad after a knee problem.
3 News
source: newshub archive
