Liverpool overcame Tottenham Hotspur with a 2-1 victory yesterday but the game was more one-sided than the scoreline suggest with Spurs drawing bad comparisons.
On first glance yesterday’s 2-1 win for Liverpool over Tottenham Hotspur looks like another close encounter between two of the best sides in the Premier League. But the statistics show that the Reds dominated Spurs to the extent they rarely do, even against weaker sides.
Andrew Beasley of the Liverpool ECHO has been searching through the historical stats to show just how dominant Klopp’s side were at Anfield yesterday.
He has found that the 11 saves made by Spurs keeper Paulo Gazzaniga has only been exceeded twice in the last 11 years – which is 428 league matches.
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Beasley notes:
"Wayne Hennessey made 12 saves for Crystal Palace in August 2017, after Vito Mannone had kept out 13 goal-bound efforts for David Moyes’ Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in January of that year. As those clubs finished their campaigns 11th and 20th respectively, they aren’t the sort of teams Spurs want to be emulating in the shots on target against column."
The game began with a lucky goal for Spurs; Son Heung-Min’s defelected shot off Dejan Lovren‘s head hit the post and fell perfectly for Harry Kane to nod in from the edge of the six yard box.
It was just the sort of start the Reds were hoping to avoid, especially with Kane’s output diminishing in recent months to tap-ins and penalties. To allow Spurs one of those early on put pressure on the home side.
But from that point on Liverpool took full advantage of Spurs sitting back to protect their lead. They peppered Gazzaniga constantly and should have bagged a couple by the break.
Captain Jordan Henderson fired home the equalizer from Fabinho’s lofted pass that lifted the Kop but they still needed to find the winner from Mohamed Salah‘s penalty.
It appeared to be another example of a second-choice goalkeeper turning up Anfield possessed by the spirit of Lev Yashin, but this side has an inner belief and rock-solid mentality that managed to grind out a win despite the horrific start to the game.