This will be the last league game between these two teams played at this ground which was opened some 117 years ago. Tottenham will move temporarily to Wembley while this ground gets demolished to help build a brand new stadium just next doors to be opened at the start of the 2018-19 season.
Match Preview:
Jurgen Klopp will take his team to the site where his career as a Liverpool manager started a little less than a year ago against a team that will most likely be a direct rival for a top four spot at the end of the season. Both teams had mixed results at the first two rounds of the league, Spurs, looked second best for the most part in their season opener against Everton, in a game where they lost their starting goal keeper Hugo Lloris due to injury, only grabbing a draw and it took them the best part of 83 minutes to unlock Crystal Palace's defense, this past Saturday to beat Alan Pardew's men with a goal that came off a set piece. Maurico Pochettino's men haven't looked at their best so far especially in the middle of the park where Moussa Dembele's vision and Dele Alli's energy have fired them to third place last season.
Liverpool on the other hand, managed to show their absolute best and worst so far in the 180 minutes that have been played. Against Woolwich, Klopp's men managed to score four past their opponents, with three goals coming in the first 20 minutes of the second half, however, they almost let their three goal advantage slip by conceding twice, winning 4-3 in a game that looked almost over when the score was 4-1. Against Burnley, Klopp's men looked bereft of ideas of how to get into any scoring areas and despite having %81 of the possession, they looked clueless and lost 2-0 with a lot of question marks hanging over their backline especially the left back and the holding midfielder positions.
Both managers love their teams to press early and high up the pitch when the opposition's defense have the ball. Spurs & Liverpool usually cover more kilometers per match than most teams in the league, so it is safe to say that the real battle will be in the middle of the park.
Pochettino preferred to start both league games so far with Victor Wanayama and Eric Dier in a midfield of two with Dele Alli being dropped in the home game against Crystal Palace for Victor Jensen essentially changing the formation from 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2 with Eriksen and Lamela occupying wide roles in both games. It is fair to say that he will revert back to a 4-2-3-1 to match the physicality of Liverpool's midfield which so far in the league have been represented by Lallana and Wijnaldum with Henderson playing a holding midfielder behind them in a 4-3-3 formation. Depending on his injury status, Emre Can might start in Henderson's role, offering more protection to the back four which will probably see Joel Matip start his first league game in place of Ragner Klavan. The former Schalke defender will have, the difficult task of marking last season's top goal scorer Harry Kane in his league debut for the Reds.
Upfront for the Reds, is where it gets interested, Klopp started the game against Woolwich with Firmino in the middle with Mane and Coutinho behind him on the wings, however with Mane injured for the second game, he started Sturridge in his place and surprisingly, the Englishman played most of the game as a right inside forward. In the midweek, league cup tie against Burton Albion, Mane, who has been a revelation for Liverpool so far, regained his position with Origi playing a central striker and Firmino shifted to the left, the Reds scored three goals before Sturridge was introduced in place of Origi and scoring a brace himself. Jurgen Klopp certainly has the options up top but needs to start with a recognized Center Forward as Liverpool lacked any presence in the opposition's penalty area against Burnely, because Sturridge, Coutinho and Firmino all dropped deep to demand the ball and no one stood on the shoulders of the last defender in the box, which limited Liverpool's options to shots from 35 yards.
It is going to be a tight affair, if the reverse fixture from last season at Anfield taught us anything.