On October 22nd, Tottenham thrashed Liverpool 4-1. How have both sides progressed since that seemingly definitive day?
When Tottenham thrashed Liverpool in the ninth game of the season, it fired Spurs up to joint second in the league on 20 points. They were once again up there with the best around.
Meanwhile it knocked Liverpool all the way down to ninth, level on 13 points with Burnley but seven behind Tottenham (and 12 behind league leaders City). It looked like Liverpool were in for a difficult season.
Yet now, two months later, Liverpool have moved all the way up to fourth with 34 points. The Reds haven’t lost a game since, drawing just three times in the Premier League.
You’d figure that means Tottenham are in third, right? Wrong. Spurs have fallen all the way down to seventh. They have lost five times and draw twice since beating Liverpool, leaving them with 31 points.
That is an enormous points swing, Tottenham gained 11 points in that time period (three wins and two draws) with Liverpool gaining a whopping 21 (six wins and three draws) to overtake them.
Just what has happened?
Well for one, Liverpool have tightened up at the back. After the Tottenham defeat, the Reds had conceded 16 goals in those 9 games. Now their goals against column reads 20. They’ve conceded just 4 goals. 4!
Liverpool’s defence has long been the cause of much consternation, but the funny thing is it’s been good at Anfield all season. Of those 16 goals they had conceded after the Tottenham loss, only 1 had come at Anfield.
So when three of the four games that followed the Tottenham loss were at home, Liverpool kept three clean sheets. And given the fourth was away to Slaven Bilic’s dying West Ham, they only conceded once there.
This gave them confidence and they built on that. Yes they conceded goals in Europe, but domestically they looked far more assured, far more composed.
Tottenham, meanwhile, have found juggling Europe and the Premier League much harder. Admittedly they were in a tougher group, but nevertheless they had conceded just 6 goals after the Liverpool game. Now they’ve conceded 18.
They lost both of the games following the Liverpool win, albeit one was in the Carabao Cup with a weakened side. But they were soundly dismissed by Manchester United at Old Trafford, and then after squeaking past Crystal Palace they got smacked around at the Emirates against Arsenal, losing 2-0. They drew with West Brom, lost to Leicester; and just when it looked like they were fine after two consecutive wins, along came Manchester City to deliver a 4-1 beatdown.
It’s clear that Tottenham have just had a tougher run of fixtures. But after the Liverpool win, they looked like a side that was capable of handling such pressures. After all; they had just dismantled Liverpool.
That’s the thing, though; much of Tottenham’s early season form was built off the back of Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Ben Davies supplementing Harry Kane’s genius, and without that help Kane had often been isolated and alone. And in big games that comes back to get you – just as it was with Tottenham.
The two sides meet again at the start of February, just where will they be in the table then? Given Tottenham will have to play Manchester United and a resurgent Everton, whilst Liverpool play half of their scheduled games at home, it really is anyone’s guess.
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