· Brian Judson's Preview
· Last Year's Game - 2-1 to Liverpool
· This week - last year
· What happened in the Premiership in Match 2001-2
Last Six Premiership results:-
Liverpool
Liverpool 2 1 Charlton
West Brom 0 6 Liverpool
Liverpool 1 2 Man City
Chelsea 2 1 Liverpool
Liverpool 1 2 Chelsea
A. Villa 0 0 Liverpool
Spurs
West Brom 2 3 Spurs
Spurs 0 2 Man Utd
M'brough 5 1 Spurs
Spurs 0 4 Blackburn
Birmingham 1 0 Spurs
Spurs 2 1 Leeds
Pos P W D L F-A GD Pts
10 Spurs 2 1 0 1 2-2 0 3
17 Liverpool 2 0 1 1 1-2 -1 1
It is somewhat unusual for Spurs to be above Liverpool in the table, and we go to Anfield with some confidence after our home win against Leeds, and in truth in pretty good form, as the opening day defeat was not really justified. There have of course, been only two games so far, and until recently, no-one used to publish league tables until three games had been played.
Despite their indifferent start, Liverpool are still a force to reckon with, and Spurs have not won there for ages. The home side have won the last 7 of these fixtures, and you have to go back to August 1993, for our last league win at Anfield, which has after all never been a good hunting ground for us, despite two good cup victories in recent times. Spurs have conceded more away goals on avarage at Anfield, than at any other ground in league games.
Liverpool's opening day defeat was their first at home (on the first day) since the days of Beatlemania, and there can be no doubt that Gerard Houllier's side are not the force they once were. When they lost at home to Chelsea, it was a repeat of the same scoreline, when Chelsea beat the Reds on the last day of the season, to qualify above their opponents for the Champions' League.
At Villa Park on Sunday, Liverpool seemed to rely upon the same old arrowed midfield passes from Stephen Gerard, which rarely found a target. Heskey was pretty hopeless, and will miss this game, not that it will be much of a loss to the home side. The Spurs defence will be kept busy with Michael Owen, and Diouf or Baros. Hamann is out for a while, and there is not the strength in midfield that Liverpool used to have. Harry Kewell is due a good game, being played mysteriously on the right, rather than his favoured left. Hyppia is as reliable as ever, but the rest of the defence could be caught on the hop by Spurs new-found pace up front.
I would not expect the Spurs side to be much different from that which faced Leeds. Perhaps Kanoute will get a start, and Zamora will stay on the bench. If we can maintain the momentum demonstrated on Saturday, I fancy us to get a result here, and I'll plump for a 2-1 to Spurs!
· The Official Liverpool Web Site.
· The "Red and White Kop" Web Site.
