Roberto Firmino ended Liverpool’s 483-minute goal drought in the Premier League to set it on way to a 3-1 win over Tottenham on Thursday and revive its faltering title defence.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane also netted as Liverpool ended a five-game winless run in a league it dominated so resoundingly last season.
The victory, which lifts Liverpool into fourth place, started with VAR ruling out an opener for Tottenham when Son Heung-min was adjudged to be offside.
Powerful strike
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg reduced the deficit to 2-1 with a powerful strike shortly after Alexander-Arnold scored at the start of the second half, but the Liverpool right back set up Mane for the third that sealed the win.
While Liverpool moved within four points of leader Manchester City, Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham is eight points adrift in sixth after its first defeat in 2021, albeit with a game in hand.
And Mourinho faces an anxious wait to discover the extent of Harry Kane’s injury after the striker twice went down in the first half clutching his left ankle before being replaced at the interval.
There are problems at the back too for the north London club, which is in danger of failing to qualify for the Champions League for a second consecutive season after reaching the final in 2019 — losing to Liverpool.
The result: Tottenham 1 (Hojbjerg 49) lost to Liverpool 3 (Firmino 45+4, Alexander-Arnold 47, Mane 65).
