Liverpool to 'roll over' Tottenham in perfect fixture for Arne Slot to bounce back after Galatasaray

As in life, in football, there is always someone worse off. Despite their problems, inconsistencies and doubts about Arne Slot as manager, Liverpool are still only three points off third place in the Premier League.

They are also still in with a good chance of winning the FA Cup and are more than capable of overturning a one-goal deficit to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League where anything can happen. The Reds are in the difficult side of the draw, however, nobody wins Europe’s premier competition without facing good teams along the way. Perspective is everything with so much still to play for regardless of what the narrative has been for much of the season.

Tottenham the perfect fixture for Liverpool

Compare and contrast with the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur. After appointing Igor Tudor, things have gone from bad to worse and they are now only one-point above West Ham and Nottingham Forest who have both shown significantly more fight in recent weeks than the Europa League trophy holders. At Anfield, it should be three relatively easy points for the home side and a chance for the likes of Rio Ngumoha to cut loose and show what they can do against a team that is battered and bruised both metaphorically and literally.

Slot might be a pragmatist who prefers control over chaos, but on this occasion, his priority should be to go for the jugular as early as possible. Spurs look like a team that either don’t know what they are supposed to be doing or who don’t trust what the manager is telling them to do. Subbing a teammate after 17 minutes isn’t going to help to build up a rapport either. With reports suggesting that Tudor could already be on borrowed time, Liverpool might actually be doing Spurs fans a favour if the result is one-sided.

Liverpool to be comfortable against Spurs?

Speaking on The Athletic FC podcast, Spurs correspondent Jay Harris reckons that this is exactly what could happen when asked if there is any chance for the visitors: “Not really. I actually think the only thing which works in their favour is that they are playing away from home because the atmosphere is so bad at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the moment and their form there has been so bad for a prolonged period of time stretching back to even last season when Ange Postecoglou was still in charge. Expectations are going to be really low.

“So, I think most people are expecting them to get rolled over, well, maybe not rolled over, but to lose against Liverpool on Sunday. So maybe they can sort of use that us versus against them mentality to scrape a point. But Van de Ven is suspended.

“There'll be question marks over Romero and Paulinho because they came off with what appeared to be concussion last night. David's (Ornstein) already mentioned some of the other injuries. So, they are going in to battle at Anfield with very, very slim pickings. So, if we're being brutally honest, I think they need to concentrate more on Nottingham Forest the week after.”

It’s the perfect game for Liverpool to pick themselves up after the defeat in Turkey. Liverpool 0 – 1 Tottenham it is then.