Tottenham Hotspurs V Liverpool: 27/8/16

Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham welcome Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool to Whitr Hart Lane in both sides 3rd Premier League fixture. Spurs, currently unbeaten drawing 1-1 with Everton in the league opener and beating Crystal Palace 1-0. Liverpool began their campaign with a hugely entertaining 4-3 victory away to Arsenal but stumbled away to newly promoted Burnley, losing 2-0. Spur's pursuit of a backup winger was still faltering with a bid of £15 million turned down by Steve Parish for Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, as their deal to sign Marseille man Geogres Kevin N'Koudou rests on the fitness of Clinton N'Jie. Liverpool would still be without Loris Karius after he recovered from a hand injury, so Belgian keeper Simon Mignolet kept his place. Ragnar Klaven was dropped from the squad and was replaced by Cameroonian defender Joel Matip. Senegalese forward Sadio Mané replaced Daniel Sturridge who dropped to the bench. Michel Vorm also kept his place with Hugo Lloris still injured, while Dele Alli came back into the squad as he recovered from his illness. Spurs got us underway in the early kickoff and seen early appeals for handball turned down after it appeared Danny Rose's cross struck the hand of Nathaniel Clyne. At the other end, Liverpool should have scored through Philippe Coutinho but Dutch stop stopper Michel Vorm got down well at his near post to deny the Brazilian. Simon Mignolet then punched a free kick clear moments later and Eriksen's corner was headed wide by misfiring Harry Kane. Pochettino was faced with more injury woes when full back Kyle Walker had to be replaced by Vincent Janssen as they looked for a cutting edge up top. It almost proved to be an immediate inpact from the Dutch ace as he made his way into the box, only to be taken down by Joel Matip in what was surely a penalty but the referee decided against it. Liverpool then found their own slice of luck when Erik Lamela was wrongly accused of bringing down Roberto Firmino in the box, when it looked like Firmino tripped over himself, nevertheless, James Milner was handed the responsibility of finding the net and he did just that, giving Klopp's side a precious 1-0 lead going into half time.

Liverpool kicked off the second period with Georginio Wijndum firing just over after combining with Roberto Firmino. Joel Matip would have been kicking himself when he seen his header go inches wide as Liverpool looked to increase their lead. Christian Eriksen then at the other end could only fire high after being found by Eric Dier inside the area. Spurs were really looking for that equaliser when Toby Alderweireld seen his header turned round the post by Simon Mignolet to keep Liverpool's pal advantage intact. Divock Origi then replaced Philippe Coutinho with just over 20 minutes left on the clock. Spurs then eventually found their equaliser after a good ball into the area fell to Danmy Rose and he fired last the on rushing Simon Mignolet at close range to tie things up. With just under 10 minutes left at The Lane, Harry Kane made way for youngster Josh Onomah as Spurs looked for a different outlet to partner Vincent Janssen. Georgina's Wijnaldum nearly stole all 3 points for Liverpool but his deflected effort was graciously caught by Michel Vorm. Liverpool were denied by Alderweireld on the counter attack as he got across to stop Adam Lallana scoring and conceded a late corner in the process. Spurs then had their own counter attack shutdown after Josh Onomah ran into an offside position. Both sides shared the spoils in the end with Spurs coming from behind to snatch an equaliser.

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Ross