Who were the big winners here? Certainly not Tottenham, even if they ended the game bellowing, blustering and battering at the door with nine men. The fact they went down fighting in those circumstances, clawing back into contention after controversially going two goals behind, will buoy up the embattled Thomas Frank but that would be to overlook elements of a performance whose discipline deteriorated to their cost.
It may not have been a moment of lift-off for Liverpool, either, although they did eventually wobble to three points. The scales had tipped in their favour when Xavi Simons, with one of those very modern and exasperating video review red cards, was dismissed in the 33rd minute but they looked blunt until the half-time substitute Alexander Isak sent them on their way. As soon as he had done so, the striker departed with a nasty-looking injury. The legacy could be costly regardless of the fact that, almost undetected, Arne Slot’s side have edged themselves back up to fifth, at least until Manchester United visit Aston Villa on Sunday.
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