Chris Sutton makes bold prediction for PL clash between Liverpool and Tottenham
Football pundit and former Blackburn Rovers forward Chris Sutton believes Tottenham Hotspur will beat Liverpool this weekend. The two teams will meet in a Premier League encounter at Anfield on Sunday, May 5.
Spurs are currently fifth in the table with 60 points from 34 matches. They are seven behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, with their hopes of finishing in the top four hanging by a thread.
The same can be said of the Reds' title hopes as well as they are third with 75 points from 35 matches. Leaders Arsenal are five points clear, while second-placed Manchester City are four points ahead with a game in hand.
Both Liverpool and Spurs have struggled in recent weeks. Jurgen Klopp's side have won just two of their last seven matches across competitions, while Tottenham have lost each of their last three games.
On Sunday, however, Sutton believes Ange Postecoglou's men will get back to winning ways. He predicted a 3-2 win for the visitors and wrote in his column for the BBC:
"Liverpool are not in great form and the incident with Mohamed Salah [where he and Klopp argued on the touchline] has not helped. I hope he apologised to Klopp for the way he behaved on the touchline last week.
"Salah is a great player but he is no different to everyone else in the squad in that, if he doesn't perform well, I am afraid he is droppable. It is going to be very interesting to see whether Salah starts this game, which should be an absolute cracker."
The 1994-95 Premier League winner with Blackburn added about Spurs:
"I thought Tottenham's tactics would suit Arsenal last week and allow them to hit them on the counter-attack, and the same applies here. When Liverpool turn the ball over, they are pretty devastating on the break, so the key for Spurs when they commit men forward will be to get the balance right. It will make for one hell of a game.
"Probably no-one fancies Spurs to come out on top, other than me, but that's what I think will happen, with the wheels coming off for Klopp properly this time."
Liverpool come into this game on the back of a 2-2 draw with West Ham United at the London Stadium. Meanwhile, Tottenham enter this contest after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Tottenham Hotspur edged Liverpool in a thriller in their last meeting
Sunday's match at Anfield will be the second clash between these two teams in this Premier League season. They previously met in September at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
On that occasion, Liverpool were left shorthanded just 26 minutes in as Curtis Jones was sent off following a VAR check for a dangerous tackle on Yves Bissouma. Spurs opened the scoring 10 minutes later as Son Heung-min converted Richarlison's assist.
However, the Reds clawed their way back in first-half stoppage time through Cody Gakpo, who injured himself in the process and was substituted at half-time. His replacement, Diogo Jota, lasted just 23 minutes, picking up two yellow cards in a minute to receive his marching orders, leaving the visitors down to nine men.
Liverpool then put together an impressive rearguard action to keep Spurs out from there on. However, Joel Matip, who had performed admirably until then, put the ball into his own net from Dejan Kulusevski's cross in the eighth minute of stoppage time to give the hosts a 2-1 win.