Stunning stats show how Liverpool star has rediscovered his top form despite Tottenham defeat

Liverpool endured a hugely difficult day in London over the weekend as they lost out to Tottenham via a 96th minute Joel Matip own goal, but one player can certainly hold their head high.

This season so far has belonged to the likes of key players such as Mohamed Salah and Alisson Becker thus far, and another key figure in Virgil van Dijk has rediscovered his form.

He starred against Spurs, despite the loss, producing a masterful display as he helped his side to hold it together for well over 20 minutes with nine men before Matip’s fatal intervention.

Across the game, Van Dijk managed: one assist, 95% pass accuracy (40/42) six blocks, eight clearances, three headed clearances, one interception, two recoveries, three ground duels won, one aerial duel won as well as seven accurate long balls.

It was another star performance from what has been a strong showing so far for the Dutch and Liverpool skipper.

Despite a last-man sending off against Newcastle, Van Dijk has been virtually flawless so far this campaign and the extra responsibility as captain has only driven him further forward.

The 32-year-old has been key as part of Liverpool’s core players, alongside Salah, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold across the past five or so years - and he continues to be crucial.

With last season being a difficult one for Liverpool, Van Dijk certainly had moments of frailty - moments that we had rarely seen in the past had started to become more frequent.

Of course, age and long-term injuries have played their part in what we saw last year, as well as the fact he was a key figure in Liverpool’s quadruple run which saw them reach three finals.

Therefore, Van Dijk has adapted his game. He is unlikely to ever reach the levels we saw across 2018-2020, but he is still a key figure and dominant in other areas.

For example, he is winning 91% of his aerial duels so far this season, and 90% of his total duels won. Plus, he is yet to be dribbled past and he is completing 92% of his passes - he is simply red-hot right now.

For Jurgen Klopp, he will be overjoyed by his captain’s form, but he will have to manage him correctly given that they should go deep into the Europa League as one of the favourites to win it, and there’s plenty of other options such as Matip, Joe Gomez, Ibrahim Konate and youngster Jarrel Quansah.

This will be especially important given he is a key figure for his country as well; if he can stay fit and in this sort of form, he can provide the foundation for Liverpool to go and be successful this season across competitions.