The score barely told half the story of a bonkers Premier League encounter where Xavi Simons and later Cristian Romero were sent off for Spurs, who lost for a fifth time at home in the division this season.<\/p>\n
An even contest tipped in the balance of Liverpool after 33 minutes when Xavi\u2019s studs-up challenge on Virgil van Dijk\u2019s Achilles earned the Tottenham playmaker a red card and Isak broke the deadlock in the 56th minute.<\/p>\n
Half-time substitute Isak was immediately forced off through injury, but Ekitike grabbed his 11th goal for the Reds soon after.<\/p>\n
A routine Liverpool triumph appeared on the cards, only for Spurs substitute Richarlison to pull one back with seven minutes left before Romero let his team down with a late kick-out at Ibrahima Konate as the hosts’ lost for a fifth time in eight matches under Thomas Frank.<\/p>\n
Frank and Slot had both faced pressure for a poor run of results, but Liverpool arrived in north London unbeaten since November 30 and with the Mohammed Salah drama a distant memory.<\/p>\n
In-form Ekitike was again preferred down the middle for the visitors and caused early problems for Romero before Spurs grabbed the initial foothold in the contest.<\/p>\n
Randal Kolo Muani had a shot blocked by Conor Bradley before the Tottenham attacker sent another effort wide from a Pedro Porro cross.<\/p>\n
A Van Dijk header straight at Guglielmo Vicario had provided a warning sign for the hosts, but Spurs continued to get joy and created an excellent chance in the 27th minute.<\/p>\n
Djed Spence’s superb drag flick set away Archie Gray and Porro\u2019s second cross picked out Kolo Muani, but he produced a tame header from six yards.<\/p>\n
It would prove costly as soon after Tottenham were reduced to 10 men after Xavi earned a red card.<\/p>\n
Spurs playmaker Xavi attempted to close down Van Dijk and planted his studs in the back of the Achilles of his fellow Dutchman. Referee Brooks initially brandished a yellow card but VAR intervened.<\/p>\n
A quick look at the monitor ensured Xavi\u2019s night ended after 33 minutes and the incoming three-match suspension means he will not play again for Tottenham until January 4th at the earliest.<\/p>\n
Predictably Liverpool improved after the sending-off and Vicario saved from Florian Wirtz to ensure it remained goalless at half-time.<\/p>\n
Slot wasted little time during the interval and sent on \u00a3130million forward Isak, which paid dividends 11 minutes later.<\/p>\n
Spurs captain Romero was at fault as his left-footed pass hit the back of Alexis Mac Allister and Liverpool broke at speed, with Wirtz able to tee up Isak to drill home for only his third goal for the Merseyside club.<\/p>\n
Isak was unable to build on the goal after being injured by Micky van de Ven as he swept home, but Slot watched his other key summer arrival strike in the 66th minute.<\/p>\n
Moments after Romero had snapped into Ekitike, the Liverpool forward had the last laugh as he beat his rival in the air to head home Jeremie Frimpong\u2019s deflected cross to make it 2-0.<\/p>\n
Tottenham captain Romero remonstrated about a push by Ekitike, but the goal stood and the visitors appeared set to ease to three points until Richarlison forced a grandstand finish.<\/p>\n
Frank introduced Brennan Johnson, Joao Palhinha and Richarlison and the latter reduced the deficit in the 83rd minute when he scuffed home from a corner.<\/p>\n
Richarlison was then played through by Johnson but his shot was blocked by Konate, who was recklessly kicked by Romero to earn the Spurs captain a stoppage-time red.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The score barely told half the story of a bonkers Premier League encounter where Xavi Simons and later…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,5859,112,3568],"class_list":["post-203166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-liverpool-football-club","tag-sports","tag-tottenham-hotspur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}