Pool To Come Close But Go Home Heartbroken

Liverpool travel to White Hart Lane to face a Spurs side who have started their season at a blistering pace in what looks an intriguing game on Sunday afternoon.

Form

Spurs continued their excellent start under Mauricio Pochettino when they cruised through to the group stages of the Europa League thanks to a 5-1 aggregate win over AEL Limassol. They eased past the Cypriots with a 3-0 second leg win at White Hart Lane on Thursday night with goals from Harry Kane, Paulinho and Andros Townsend from the penalty spot seeing them through.

That was a fourth win in a row since Pochettino arrived from Southampton over the summer and third clean sheet, with his charges yet to concede a goal in the Premier League.

They began the campaign with a 1-0 win at West Ham thanks to a late Eric Dier goal on his debut for the club before thrashing QPR 4-0 at home last weekend when Dier again got on the scoresheet while Nacer Chadli also hit a brace and Emmanuel Adebayor rounded off the rout.

Last week’s massive clash between Manchester City and Liverpool didn’t go according to plan for the Reds as they went down 3-1 at the Etihad on Monday night. Steven Jovetic bagged a brace to prove his fine pre-season showings were no fluke and Sergio Aguero’s goal within 30 seconds of coming off the bench had the win all wrapped for City before Pablo Zablaleta’s own goal gave the visitors a consolation.

Brendan Rodgers saw his side earn all three points in their first game of the season against Southampton a fortnight ago with Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge getting the goals for the home side in a nervy 2-1 win at Anfield.

Team News

Striker Roberto Soldado is out for Tottenham with a neck problem with full-back Kyle Walker joining him on the sidelines as the England international has a groin injury.

Pochettino is again expected to ring in the changes from the team which won in Europe with Danny Rose, Dier, Chadli, Adebayor, Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen all likely to return to the starting XI.

Rodgers was dealt a further blow in their loss to City as three of his starting back four on the night picked up injuries with Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson and debutant Alberto Moreno all now struggling to take part on Sunday.

Those possible absentees are compounded by an injury list already featuring two more defenders in Daniel Agger and Jon Flanagan. On the positive side of things Adam Lallana is nearing a return to fitness and could even take a spot on the bench while new signing Mario Balotelli should feature from the outset following his arrival from Milan.

Head to Head

Liverpool dominated both of their games against Spurs last season scoring nine goals without reply including five at White Hart Lane through Flanagan, Sterling, Jordan Henderson and a brace from Luis Suarez.

The Londoners actually have a good recent record in this fixture excluding those games though, winning four of the previous six.

Recommended Bets

There’s absolutely nothing between the sides in the Match Betting market with both priced at 17/10 for the win. That would often point to a draw – priced at 5/2 – with two very capable teams although given the injury problems and potential for a hugely weakened defensive unit for Liverpool then I’d definitely lean towards a Spurs side oozing confidence at the moment.

The Reds will certainly offer more of a threat than Spurs will have faced so far though so both teams scoring seems likely but is quite slight at 8/15 but both scoring in a home win looks tasty at 10/3.