Bet: Liverpool to win at 4/6
Liverpool seem invincible at the moment. If they avoid defeat here they will have attained an invincibility of sorts, as they will have gone 38 matches since they were last defeated in the league. If they win, the Reds will have taken 104 points from their previous season’s worth of matches, a new record.
One of the two teams to have enjoyed a longer unbeaten run in the Premier League was Jose Mourinho’s first Chelsea team. At the tail end of pantomime season, Spurs’ manager will be more than happy to play the villain here to keep that record intact.
But he has always struggled against Jürgen Klopp’s teams, winning just two of the 10 clashes. It’s the worst win percentage Jose holds against any of the 26 managers he has faced at least seven times.
Liverpool have an air of invincibility against Tottenham in recent times too. Jürgen Klopp’s record against Spurs reads six wins, four draws and only one defeat. Since that loss, Liverpool have played 87 league games and lost only four, while Tottenham have lost four of their last 12.
Perhaps the final nail in the Lilywhites’ coffin is they have only won two of their last 12 games in which England’s Harry Kane has taken no part. His magic chin has voodoo powers, don’t you know.
All of these runs will end eventually. Perhaps Saturday will see Tottenham beat Liverpool and do so without Kane, something they’ve not managed for over seven years. But it took the genius of Andre Villas-Boas to pull that off, and Jose’s not a handsome, Portuguese manager with a nice line in coats, is he?
Bet: Both teams to score – ‘no’ – at 5/4
Alternative: Under 2.5 goals at 5/4
A big reason why the Reds are red hot favourites is their attack rarely fails to draw blood. Liverpool have scored in their last 29 league matches, the longest such run in the English top flight for over 11 years. Klopp’s crop have also scored in 14 of their 17 away games against the other big clubs since the start of 2016/17, the best record of any team.
As Spurs have kept two league clean sheets this season – the joint-fewest alongside rock bottom Norwich – it’s easy to see why Liverpool are 1/12 to score. But they probably won’t run riot, as Jose’s tactics won’t allow it, and they’ve only scored twice in two of their last nine ‘big six’ away matches.
And in beating Sheffield United 2-0 recently, the Reds kept their fifth successive clean sheet in the league for the first time since 2007. Ignore their kids’ school trip to Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup, and Liverpool have only conceded one goal in their last nine games, and that was with a back four including Milner and Henderson.
So can a Kane-less Spurs score? On the underlying numbers, their attacking output in their recent 2-0 home loss to Chelsea was the fifth worst by a home team across the last 106 league matches contested by two teams from the big six. Liverpool definitely have a chance of a sixth clean sheet here.
Bet: Lucas Moura to score at 3/1
When Jose first took over, Dele Alli had a resurgence. But it seems to have cooled, as he’s only scored once in his last seven appearances, while Heung-Min Son has only got one more goal than he has red cards in his last 13 league games.
Lucas Moura has three goals in his last seven starts, and scored at both Anfield and the Etihad – plus grabbed a hat-trick at Ajax – in 2019, so looks to be Tottenham’s best big game player now the big chin is out.
Bet: Roberto Firmino to score at 17/10
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané are 11/10 joint favourites in the goal scorer market, and it’s hard to make a case to pick one over the other. The Egyptian has five goals in his last eight starts, while his Senegalese counterpart has five in his last 11.
For a shade more value, consider the case of Roberto Firmino. Only four players have scored more away Premier League goals than he has in 2019/20, and he has netted four times in Liverpool’s last three games away from Anfield. Bobby scored home and away against Spurs last season for good measure too.
Saturday 17:30 – Spurs 10/3, Draw 16/5, Liverpool 4/6