Spurs 2-1 Liverpool

The report in full...

We’d gone ahead in the first half through Heung-Min Son after Curtis Jones was sent off with a straight red card, only for Liverpool to level through Cody Gakpo on the stroke of half-time. The visitors were then reduced to nine men when Diogo Jota was dismissed for two yellow cards in quick succession, but we couldn’t find a way through Liverpool’s massed defence.

That was until the last seconds of six minutes of stoppage time, when Matip diverted Pedro Porro’s cross into his own net to spark scenes of amazing celebrations similar to our late, late comeback victory over Sheffield United last time out here.

It marked our first win over Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, ended their 17-game unbeaten run in the Premier League and saw us climb up to second in the table, just one point behind Manchester City.

It was such an entertaining game, played with real tempo with plenty of quality football on show and the teams wasted no time in creating chances, Alexis Mac Allister volleying wide from a corner on three minutes before Richarlison’s tempting cross drifted right across the six-yard box.

Guglielmo Vicario made two big saves to keep out Gakpo’s shot on the turn and from Andy Robertson on the rebound while Pape Matar Sarr blocked a dangerous Curtis Jones effort on 19 minutes. Just seven minutes later Jones was sent off for an unpleasant-looking challenge on Yves Bissouma, referee Simon Hooper initially brandishing a yellow card but, on the advice of the VAR, he watched the incident again on the pitchside monitor and upgraded the card to a straight red, as Jones went over the top of the ball with the tackle.

With the extra man, we looked to take advantage and Alisson had to make a fine diving save to deny James Maddison and Richarlison blazed over after a patient build-up. Luis Diaz then had a goal ruled out for offside before we took the lead in the 36^th minute, James Maddison playing an exquisite through ball in behind Joe Gomez for Richarlison and he squared it for Son to side-foot into the back of the net, his 200^th career club goal.

Liverpool had twice won matches this season when reduced to 10 men though, and they fought back to level this one in first-half stoppage time when Gakpo pounced on Virgil van Dijk’s header into the danger zone and fired past Vicario. Then, Diaz almost put them ahead with the last kick of the first half, just sliding Mo Salah’s cross past the post.

There was no let-up to the tempo at the start of the second as we were quickly on the front foot again, almost regaining the lead only for Alisson to pull off two stunning saves to keep out efforts from Maddison and Heung-Min Son before Sarr drilled one straight at him from 25 yards.

The visitors were always a threat on the break though and we needed some excellent defending to prevent them getting good sights of goal on a number of dangerous breaks, but there was another twist on 69 minutes when Liverpool were reduced to nine men. This time, second-half substitute Jota was the player involved, receiving two yellow cards in quick succession.

The pattern of the game was set now, as the Reds just dropped back into a defensive formation whenever we got the ball and invited us to try to break them down, which was proving difficult against their packed defence.

We gave a debut to young Argentine striker Alejo Veliz as the game entered stoppage time, one last throw of the dice to try to nick the win. Richarlison found space to win a header late on but it was straight at Alisson and that looked like it might be it. But there was time for one more attack as Pedro Porro delivered a teasing cross into the box and Matip stuck out a leg to send the ball flying past Alisson. To be fair, it was cruel on Liverpool who had defended really well, but we’ll take it!

In addition to Veliz, there was a place on the bench for young striker Jamie Donley for the first time, the 18-year-old Academy product having started the season superbly for our Under-21s.