Tottenham v Liverpool: Premier League – live

34 min Kulusevski takes a quick free-kick to put Son clean through on goal, only for the referee to pull play back because the ball wasn’t stationary. Son was definitely onside as well.

32 min “Do we think that giving the best crosser of a football in the world 20 yards of space to line up a cross is a good idea?” says Felix Wood. “Or is that question offensive and disrespectful?”

As a neutral I’d argue it’s a bit more complicated than that. And I’m certain that we’ll all miss Big Ange when he’s gone.

31 min Gakpo loses the ball to Sarr, tries to make up for the error with a lunging tackle and is booked.

30 min Salah’s short cross pinballs around the six-yard box before being booted clear. Spurs are hanging on a bit.

26 min Liverpool look so sharp. Diaz cracks a snapshot from 20 yards that Forster, diving low to his right, saves at the second attempt.

24 min That’s the same end at which Luis Diaz scored his wrongly disallowed goal last season.

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s right foot could unlock Fort Knox. He was 35 yards from goal when he received the ball, took a touch and curled a magnificent pass – because that’s what it was – towards Diaz at the far post. Diaz pulled away and then strained his neck muscles like Bruce Banner to power an excellent header back across Forster. The finish was excellent; the cross was off the charts.

GOAL! Spurs 0-1 Liverpool (Diaz 23)

20 min Gray slides Gakpo just wide of his own goal, though it wouldn’t have counted due to an offside in the build up. Spurs were fuming because they thought Szoboszlai had fouled Son 15 seconds earlier.

18 min: Salah hits the bar! Bissouma loses the ball in a dangerous area. It’s quickly fed into Salah, who has Gray and another Spurs player for company on the edge of the area. Salah makes a bit of space with a dizzying piece of skill, although he is still under a lot of pressure when he pokes a right-foot shot that hits the top of the crossbar.

17 min: Good defending by Spence! Salah’s shot is crucially blocked by Spence, as is follow up. It came from a low cross by Gakpo but there’s no time for that because…

16 min Sarr shoots wide from distance at the other end. Not a bad effort but Alisson had it covered. More pertinently, the opportunity came from Kulusevski beating Robertson on the right; that feels like a fertile area of the field for Spurs.

15 min Diaz slips Porro and pokes the ball to Gakpo, who arrows a shot over the bar from 20 yards.

15 min Gravenberch reads Bissouma’s pass to Maddison and nips in to start another Liverpool attack. Nothing comes of it but that Rodri-ish interception was a nice demonstration of how good Gravenberch has become in that positioon.

14 min Spurs are seeing more of the ball now, though Liverpool remain more threatening.

12 min “Is Tottenham’s problem really blowing big leads because they stick to their freewheeling approach or (as Wilson pointed out) failing to get a lead in the first place when the opposition isn’t so accommodating?” wonders Sean Orlowicz.

A bit of both I guess. They’ve lost two games are being 2-0 up which isn’t an everyseason occurrence.

10 min: Fine save by Forster! Alexander-Arnold, on the right touchline, guides a stunning lofted pass to find Salah unmarked eight yards from goal. His flicked volley is superbly saved by Forster and Szoboszlai’s ferociously follow up is blocked by a defender.

Salah might just have been offside but that doesn’t diminish the imagination or quality of the pass.

8 min Spurs are yet to really get going. Maybe that’s a good sign: they started terribly at the Etihad and won 4-0, and brilliantly against Chelsea when they lost 4-3.

6 min Alexander-Arnold’s corner ricochets off somebody at the near post and is cleared by Solanke.

5 min Gakpo finds the overlapping Robertson, whose cross deflects behind for the first corner of the game.

4 min Diaz batters wide from 22 yards. Liverpool have started really well.

3 min: Chance for Salah! Forster, who had a nightmare with his feet on Thursday, inexplicably tries a nonchalant chip over Salah that instead goes straight to him on the right side of the area. Salah chests the ball down and rattles a shot just wide of the near post. Forster had the shot covered but the pass was cringeworthy in the extreme.

2 min “Good morning from Pittsburgh!” writes Eric Peterson. “Another Spurs game, another episode of me trying to get my head around why we use the word ‘inconsistent’ to describe Tottenham. Results, for sure, but not the tactics we see on the pitch – that’s as consistent as can be. Full marks to Ange Postecoglou for demanding constant use of a style that, on balance, will generally result with Spurs outscoring their opponents.

“To paraphrase Ted Lasso with Jamie Tartt, if Postecoglou just figures out how to turn that consistency into inconsistency, and set aside that ‘try to outscore the opponent at all costs’ mentality when ‘hey, we’re ahead, no need to outscore them anymore, let’s just lock this game down’ is called for – whew, the sky’s the limit for him.”

1 min Peep peep! Spurs kick off from right to left as we watch.

A reminder of the teams

Tottenham (4-3-3) Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Son.
Substitutes: Austin, Reguilon, Udogie, Dorrington, Bergvall, Olusesi, Werner, Johnson, Lankshear.

Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Gakpo.
Substitutes: Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Quansah, Nyoni.

“Everton v Chelsea, not exactly a classic game,” says Tom Gould. “The highlight was the director recreating an iconic scene from American Beauty. No not Jordan Pickford lying naked on a bed of rose petals, the scene with the bag being blown gracefully through the air!”

Sometimes there’s so much beauty in Everton’s defensive shape… I don’t think I can take it.

And Arne Slot’s

[Is playing through their press the key?] It is in every game. But it’s more difficult because they are so intense and they’re not afraid to go man v man very high up the field. That brings them a lot because if they win the ball from you they’re an immediate threat. We have to recognise the right moments to go through – or over.

Ange Postecoglou’s pre-match thoughts

They’re a very good side and pretty lethal in the final third. We’ve been scoring lots of goals, so it’s got all the hallmarks of a dour 0-0, mate.

[On Fraser Forster] He had two unfortunate moments the other day but that happens. He’s been very good for us and he’s up for the challenge.

From the archive: Scott Murray on memorable Spurs v Liverpool games

“If poor Keith Burkenshaw had spent his £750,000 on a time machine and had fielded instead of Ardiles and Villa, the entire double-winning side of 1961, the result would probably have been no different,” opined the Guardian’s Patrick Barclay. Liverpool scored seven: two for Kenny Dalglish and David Johnson, one for Ray Kennedy, a rebound penalty knocked in by Phil Neal, and arguably the greatest end-to-end goal ever scored, a zig-zag of raking first-time Hollywood balls, Steve Heighway’s left-wing cross eventually headed home by Terry McDermott, speeding in at the far post.

Today’s Premier League results

Liverpool will be top at Christmas regardless of today’s result. Chelsea are the latest title challenger to be come up dry against Sean Dyche’s Everton: a goalless draw means they are a point behind Liverpool having played two games more.

Jonathan Wilson on Big Ange

Given his comments this week about football management being a harder job than prime minister, it’s fair to say Ange Postecoglou is feeling the pressure. Not for him calculations that will materially affect the lives of millions for years to come; no, he has to work out a way to try to get a result at home to Liverpool on Sunday. And yet, counterintuitively, it is Postecoglou who is the one more likely to stick to his principles.

‘TO DARE IS TOO DEAR’

Spurs fans have been protesting against Daniel Levy and friends before the game. Apparently supporters will also release a load of balloons in the 24th minute; Levy and ENIC have been at Spurs for 24 years.

Where does time go? It’s already 15 months since Luis Diaz’s goal that wasn’t against Spurs. Today, Paul Tierney and Sian Massey-Ellis are on VAR duty.

Premier League latest

• Everton 0-0 Chelsea

• Fulham 0-0 Southampton

• Leicester 0-3 Wolves

• Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth

Ineos’s decision to bully Ruben Amorim into taking the job mid-season, rather than wait until next summer, looks more short-sighted by the week.

Team news

Half-time scores

There are four 2pm kick-offs in the Premier League. This is how they’re going.

• Everton 0-0 Chelsea

• Fulham 0-0 Southampton

• Leicester 0-3 Wolves

• Man Utd 0-1 Bournemouth

As things stand Bournemouth are fifth in the table, above Manchester City and in a different postcode to Manchester United. Andoni Iraola is the real deal isn’t he?

“And it came to Molby…”

There’s more than one way to win a title, as Liverpool showed throughout the 1970s and 1980s. They often set a blistering pace that nobody could live with (1978-79, 1982-83 and 1987-88 come to mind, not to mention 2019-20). But there was also a few seasons in which they started slowly and were written off, only to come through the field like The Terminator.

One such example was in 1985-86, when a dramatic victory in a televised game at Spurs was the catalyst for them to reel in the champions Everton.

Preamble