Liverpool end 2021 goal drought with 3-1 win at Tottenham

The wait for Liverpool finally ended at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - and then they just could not stop scoring.

Incredibly, Roberto Firmino’s opener was Liverpool’s first Premier League goal in eight hours and three minutes as they also enjoyed their first win in six league games.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane then got in on the act as Liverpool punished Tottenham’s defensive lapses and if it had not been for that dastardly VAR then Mo Salah would have got another, too.

But this was not just about the goals, it was also about Liverpool showing clear signs of getting back to their best.

Jurgen Klopp celebrating on the touchline, delighting in their energy, work rate and passion and they never stopped moving, working and looking for angles all night.

For a team supposedly out of confidence and struggling for belief, the reigning champions must have picked it up and found it again on the way down to London.

Liverpool were patched up - so were Tottenham - as Jordan Henderson and Joel Matip was their 11th different central defensive partnership this season while they only lasted as a pair until half time when Nat Phillips had to come on for Matip.

But they had an all too familiar look about them in attack as Mane, Firmino and Salah really clicked again, the deadly trio back in harness again, ripping Tottenham to shreds.

This was surely Thiago Alcantara’s best game in a Liverpool shirt to date before he even came off in the second half with a bandage around his head.

Patched up, battered and bruised but back on the winning trail, Liverpool looked excellent again and this was their seventh straight win over Tottenham.

Klopp has got the grip on Mourinho while Tottenham played well at times but their defence was the issue time and again. Sergio Reguilon was missing, they tried two different formations and yet each was vulnerable and made mistakes.

Even the normally reliable Hugo Lloris made mistakes and it gift-wrapped a victory for Liverpool who were in the mood to take full advantage.

It started at 100mph with Heung-Min becoming the first victim of VAR when he had the ball in the net after just two minutes but it was ruled offside.

Harry Kane was kicked from pillar to post, Matt Doherty struggled at right wing-back and the goal was always coming because no way could this feisty encounter stay goalless.

It came in first-half injury time. Henderson played a lovely ball over the top to release Mane down the left, his cross fizzed into the box and yet Lloris and Eric Dier almost left it for each other to allow Firmino to score from close range.

Klopp punched the air with both fists in delight while Mourinho went crackers, shouting and screaming in anger.

Tottenham made a double change at half time, Erik Lamela and Harry Winks on for Serge Aurier and Kane who had been kicked from pillar to post

Liverpool got their second within two minutes of the restart. Mane turned Doherty too easily and his shot was spilled by Lloris and then Alexander-Arnold drilled a super shot into the far corner.

Yet the joy was short-lived. Back came Spurs just two minutes later. Lamela fed Steven Bergwijn and he teed up Pierre-Emile Højbjerg who unleashed a sensational right foot screamer from 25 yards which curled away from Alisson and into the far corner.

Liverpool finally looked to have regained control when Salah smashed in a third after 57 minutes but once again VAR stepped in, ruling that Firmino handled the ball in the build-up even though it looked as if Dier handled it first.

But Liverpool finally wrapped it up. Alexander-Arnold’s ball over the top was completely missed by Spurs defender Joe Rodon and then Mane lashed it into the net.