Who will emerge stronger from this season-defining clash?
This fixture was one of my favourites last season: Wanyama’s rocket, Salah’s brilliance, Kane’s missed penalty followed by a successful one in the 95th minute to equalise – truly brilliant stuff. If Sunday’s match is half as good as what we saw last February, I’ll be very happy indeed.
Both sides will be absolutely desperate to avoid any more slip-ups; Liverpool cannot afford to lose more ground in the title race, while Spurs have been sucked into a four-way battle for the two remaining Champions League places (although I’m sure they’d be delighted with a point at Anfield).
One fella who will look to play a key role in proceedings is Sadio Mane. The Liverpool forward has scored 17 times this season, and finds himself just one goal adrift of Golden Boot leader Sergio Aguero.
With 11 goals from his last 11 games, I’m backing Mane to score at any time on Sunday; Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino haven’t found the net with much regularity lately, but Liverpool’s Senegalese speedster has emphatically picked up the slack.
A cheeky stats-based tip up next: under 10.5 corners.
Spurs’ matches this season have seen 9.97 corners on average, while Liverpool’s have seen 9.87 – add to this the fact that, generally speaking, fewer corners are awarded in games involving the top six, and this looks like a pretty solid bet.
My final tip is for a penalty to be awarded.
We all remember Hazza Kane’s pair of pens last season – the first of which was saved by Champions League finalist Loris Karius – and it wouldn’t surprise me to see another awarded on Sunday.
Only Manchester United, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace have received more penalties than Liverpool this season, and with the Anfield intensity and magnitude of the event all playing a part, Martin Atkinson might be kept very busy.
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