It‘s time for some good old English football again! While the season of 16/17 has only advanced to its third week in the Premier League, we’ve already seen some pretty brilliant matches, and this week is not going to be an exception. Liverpool is meeting Tottenham – and that’s the kind of a game nobody is really neutral about.
Last season, both of the matches that these two played ended in draws, but can we expect the same result this time around, too? According to the UK-licensed bookie TonyBet, the Spurs are a fair bit more likely to clock in a second victory in a row – the odds for their win are at 13/10 as opposed to 41/20 that Liverpool got.
The problem that the Reds seem to be having so far is their defence being a bit off. They managed to score four goals against Arsenal on the opening night, but they let three slip – and then last week against Burnley was pretty miserable, with Liverpool losing at 0:2, and to the newly-promoted team at that. Now their attack is pretty great, and if you include the Football League Cup, Klopp’s boys managed no less than nine goals in just three games.
While Tottenham has just one win so far too, they haven’t lost a game, either. The Everton meet ended in a single-goal draw, but then the following match against Crystal Palace ended in a successful 1:0. Even though the sample size is admittedly small, so far it looks like the Spurs have got a tight defence, but their offense could use some improving. Still, it could come as a strong point against the Reds who are weaker in this particular spot.
It’s only Week 3, but of course Liverpool has got quite a few injuries – that was a common theme last season and it continues this year, too. Loris Karius, Mamadou Sakho, and Lucas Leiva remain on the benches for this week, too, however, we may see Joel Matip’s first Premier League start, and Mane should be good to go, too.
Tottenham is still dealing with Hugo Lloris being injured and Mousa Dembele still suspended – however, it seems like their situation is a bit better when it comes to potential rotation abilities. In any case, it seems like it will come down to how strong they will defend against Liverpool, because it’s a bit unlikely they would manage to outscore them in a tight race.
While we didn’t see an impressive defence so far from Liverpool, they will no doubt be working at that, too – and it could help them beat Tottenham. Then again, the Spurs seem to be playing pretty well so far, so the one thing that we can really presume is that this is going to be one heck of a clash. Let’s crack a beer open and watch the lads run!