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Tottenham face a massive test of their title credentials when they host Liverpool at Wembley today, after Arsenal hit the road to face Everton.
Spurs are on a three-match winning streak and have gone six matches undefeated in the Premier League, but still trail second-placed Manchester United by three points and leaders Manchester City by five. They have lost just once against Chelsea on match day two and in midweek held Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital.
The Reds have fallen off the pace in the title race, currently finding themselves nine points behind City after managing just one win in their last five league matches, the most recent of which was a goalless stalemate against United. But Wednesday saw them run riot in the Europa League, thrashing Maribor 7-0 to highlight their attacking potency.
That match in Slovenia saw James Milner feature in midfield while Jordan Henderson was given a break, and Jürgen Klopp explained why he liked to shuffle his pack.
“I was never in doubt about Millie; there is nothing new about this,” Klopp said on Friday.
“But that’s the situation we wanted to have, that’s the situation that we need to have – that we have more of the highest quality players than 11. We’ve played now without Nathaniel Clyne, without Sadio Mané, without Adam Lallana, and the best thing is that we still have more players than we can use from the first whistle.”
Spurs expect to have Moussa Dembélé back from a hip injury picked up in training before the Madrid match, while Ben Davies and Georges-Kévin N’Koudou have been back in training with the first team. Victor Wanyama remains sidelined with a knee injury.
Klopp revealed that Mané is “still in rehab” with a hamstring injury, and is joined on the sidelines by Lallana and Clyne.
But before that, Arsenal will head to Goodison Park to face a struggling Everton side at risk of dropping into the relegation zone.
The Gunners recently suffered their third defeat of the campaign and their first since matchday three, in last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Watford, dropping them down to sixth in the standings, nine points off the pace.
Arsène Wenger’s men have picked up a win since that loss to the Hornets, with Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Red Star Belgrade in the Europa League, but needed an 85th-minute goal from Olivier Giroud to get the better of the Serbians.
The Toffees have been in crisis mode with just one win to their name since match day one.
They sit 16th in the standings, one of five teams on eight points and are at risk of falling into the bottom three.
Ronald Koeman’s side were also in Europa League action on Thursday, losing 2-1 at home to French side Lyon. – TEAMtalk Media
