Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have kept each other in balance on Sunday evening. After a truly spectacular final phase, a 2-2 final score was on the scoreboard on Anfield. Mohamed Salah seemed to give Liverpool the victory in injury time, but after a violation of Virgil van Dijk’s Virgil the ball went to the spot. Whereas Harry Kane failed earlier in the match, he hit the ground in extremis.
Of the last 23 home matches against Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool lost only one. In addition, Jürgen Klopp was unbeaten in his last twelve matches against the top six, while the Reds had not lost fourteen matches in a row on Anfield. In advance, it looked good for Liverpool and that put the team of Klopp in the first few minutes. After three minutes of play Salah escaped the attention of the defenders of Tottenham Hotspur and the Egyptian goal machine had eye-in-eye with Hugo Lloris no problems on his 27th hit of the season to work in.
The defense of the Spurs struggled in the early stages with the Liverpool line of attack. Sadio Mané rushed past Davinson Sánchez, but then failed to deploy a teammate. A little while later James Milner was close to the second Liverpool hit, but his attempt went just next to Tottenham Hotspur’s goal. During the duel, the visitors got better at the match and got chances through Heung-Min Son and Moussa Dembélé.
After peace and quiet were the best chances for the visitors, who could have reached the same level via Son and Kane. However, Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius proved to be a stumbling block for Tottenham Hotspur. In the final minutes, visitors more explicitly went in search of the equalizer, while leaving room for Liverpool. Eventually, substitute Victor Wanyama shot the equalizer fabulously against the ropes ten minutes before time. Karius boxed the ball away, after which the leather fell in front of the feet of the Kenyan. He pulled out devastatingly and stripped the ball in the crossroads.
Five minutes before time the Spurs seemed to be leaving Liverpool with a victory, after the referee gave Jon Moss a penalty kick. Karius floored Kane, who initially seemed to be offside. After consulting with his assistant Moss put the ball on the spot, after which Karius stopped the penalty kick of Kane. Salah then seemed to give Liverpool a miraculous victory with the 2-1, but in the last minute of the injury time things went wrong for the home team. The assistant referee found a violation of Van Dijk on Erik Lamela, after which the ball went back on the dot. This time Kane hit a hit from eleven metres, so that it ended in 2-2.
Did this duel get a fair result?
