Liverpool (Away) 15.03.2026

Heading to the North-West with 13 players missing through injury and suspension, Igor Tudor only selected seven players for the subs bench and two of them were goalkeepers !  Even Harry Redknapp’s bare bones were never this exposed.

Spurs looked pretty comfortable and while they could have bene opened up in the ninth minute, when a through ball straight into the right channel was played for Wirtz and he passed left to Gakpo who got his shot all wrong and it went way wide.  A couple of minutes later, Dragusin played a ball up the left that Dom won in the air and Richarlison picked it, played it back inside to Solanke.  He moved past Gomez with ease and with van Dijk giving him a push on the shoulder, pulled the ball back and Souza jumped into get a touch to take the ball towards goal, but Robertson blocked the ball five yards out from goal.  As play continued, Szoboszlai tried a cross-field pass that was intercepted by Souza and with not much lese on, he struck a shot from 25 yards and it was swerving all over the place forcing Allisson to push it over.  From the corner, it was a good delivery to the far post where Sarr met it, but Danso had pushed the keeper and it was a free kick anyway.

The Brazilian defender had been drafted in to midfield and in the 15th minute, when MacAllister was moving into shooting range, Souza caught him from behind and the ref awarded a free-kick 22 yards out; the sort of which we never get given.  Sod’s law states that what can go wrong will go wrong and despite having the better chances to this point, Szoboszlai stepped up and stuck the ball over the wall and into the net to the keeper’s right.  Vicario got a hand to it and may have been better set to get more on it to stop it going in, but 18 minutes gone and we were behind.  Not an unusual position to be in and to be frank, going behind at Anfield wasn’t unexpected.

Liverpool looked like they had a taste for it and when Grevenberch turned Sarr, his shot from 25 yards screamed just over the top and ten minutes before half-time, Richarlison robbed 25 yards from Spurs goal and the ball was fed through to Gakpo whose shot is fingertipped onto the right hand post by Vicario, who dived full length to get a touch on it.  In the 43rd minute, Ngumoha went down left and got a free kick when Souza was deemed to have pushed him over like a foul we never get.  From the second phase a long cross to the right saw van Dijk head it back and Gray intercepted, but it went back to the Liverpool captain who side-footed a volley went across the face of goal with no red shirt to put it away and Spurs were lucky that Dragusin didn’t get a touch to it as it went through his legs.  Right on 45 minutes, Souza and Tel worked a good move on the left and when the cross came in, it was headed a couple of feet wide of the far post by Richi, but with almost three minutes of added time played, Spurs won a corner.  Tel picks out Richarlison who headed the ball down from 10 yards out and Allison pushed it away to his left, with Gravenberch close to getting a touch on it before it reached the keeper with what was the last touch of the half.  A goal then would have been a real boost for Spurs and in what had been a reasonably even first half would have been a fair score at the interval.

After half-time Ngumoha went down the left again and then went down in the box without being touched as Souza came into challenge and Tudor picked up a yellow card for dissent when the player got away with a dive, like Sarr and Simons didn’t against Newcastle.  Five minutes in, Frimpong’s right wing cross is played low across the box and Ngumoha comes inside from the left, but puts his shot over and a minute later he tries another, but Vicario got down low to get behind it.  A long ball through ten minutes into the second half sawaRichi get in behind van Dijk, who leans all over him putting him off his shot that Alisson pushes wide for a corner.  That’s headed away after Simons is on for Souza and as it drops Xavi Simons hits a volley that strikes Richi and comes back to him to head at goal, but without enough power.

Liverpool were trying to get at Spurs and when Ngumoha chopped the ball inside the left side of box for Wirtz, the German’s shot went across the face of goal and wide.  The chances being made by the home team weren’t really troubling Tottenham too much, with Spurs looking more dangerous going forward.  Richi hit a rising shot with the outside of his boot from a yard outside the box heading for the top of the net, but it was too close to Alisson who saved it above his head.  Liverpool broke straight away and got into the box with Ekitike spooning his shot way over the bar.

There was a dodgy moment when a long ball hits Dragusin on the head just outside the Spurs box.  He was still favourite to win it, but Salah got it off him and shoots wide across goal from the right.  Fortunately, when Salah and Ekitike came on they were pretty rubbish and I can’t remember Vicario having a serious save to make in the second half.  There was a later shot from Gravenberch that was partially blocked and drifted gently into Vic’s arms as if to prove the point.

With fifteen minutes left, a straight ball out of our defence saw Simons turn Szoboszlai and run forward, being tripped by Gravenberch but still getting it to Spence, who comes inside to shoot straight at the keeper.  It was the last thing Djed did in the match as Tudor brought Callum Olusesi on for him and Kolo Muani for Tel.

Spurs were looking for the equaliser and in the 80th minute, Porro’s cross went through beyond the far side of the area and Archie crossed it back in agonisingly just too high for Richi to meet with his head.  Our Brazilian forward did better with the next chance he was presented with.  In the last minute of the 90, Vicario sent a long ball forward that saw Robertson duck out of an initial challenge and then head the ball inside for Kolo Muani to run the ball inside into the box and pass it to his left for Richarlison to scuff a shot to Alisson’s right and into the net to make it 1-1.  It was fortunate that the striker didn’t hit the shot cleanly, with it almost being kicked onto his standing leg, as a better contact may have resulted in Alisson blocking it.  They talk about Spurs sleep-walking into relegation but Liverpool were taking it so easy that they were asking for this.  And did Richi enjoy celebrating his goal after being on the end of stick from the home crowd, especially as he enjoys scoring at that ground so much. 

Anyway, it is something to enjoy while we can and remembering back to our league visit there last season, it is an improvement and whereas I was expecting a thumping after recent results, a draw is a victory – even if it is only a moral one !

• James Rowswell makes his Spurs debut as a substitute.
• Richarlison’s goal was his 100th Premier League goal involvement (73 goals and 23 assists) in his career.