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iverpool were Kaned and should be caned after this. Harry Kane scored twice and bullied an appalling Liverpool defence as a wonderfully rampant Tottenham Hotspur surged to an impressive, emphatic victory that showed they are in this Premier League title race.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are already 12 points behind leaders Manchester City after just nine games and no top-flight side has conceded more away goals than them so far this season.
Spurs were winless in their previous nine league games against Liverpool, they have suffered the Wembley hoodoo this season, but all that was banished in front of the biggest-ever Premier League crowd of 80,827.
Close to the end Kane departed to a standing ovation, holding the back of his leg, with Pochettino checking he was okay. He was right to show concern, Kane is irreplaceable.
Liverpool were defensively disastrous, a shambles, and Dejan Lovren paid the price as he was hauled off after just over half an hour, an ignominious departure for the centre-half made even worse because it was not as if manager Jurgen Klopp – who has questions to answer - changed his system. Lovren just had to go.
Before that he had gifted Spurs two goals and, had Heung-Min Son been more fortunate, and more clinical, he could have had a first-half hat-trick. Instead he claimed one but not before Kane had struck. Less than four minutes had elapsed when Kieran Trippier chipped the ball forward, after combining with Christian Eriksen and Son from a throw-in, with Lovren losing Kane who ran between him and Joel Matip before lifting the ball past Simon Mignolet. The goalkeeper had compounded it by running rashly from goal, when there was cover, catching Kane, who could have gone down but steadied himself to shoot into the unguarded net. It was Kane’s first league goal at Wembley.
Then, horribly, Lovren blundered again as he completely mis-judged a long throw from Hugo Lloris allowing Kane to run free down the right with the striker sprinting on and crossing low for Son who superbly guided his shot past Mignolet.
It was a car-crash for Liverpool and they were caught out again with Son running onto Eriksen’s through ball, which arced between Lovren and Matip, for the Korean to thump a right-foot shot that struck the under-side of the cross-bar and bounced out.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino had changed his line-up and formation once more, with a 5-3-2 approach as Son played alongside Kane in attack, and it seemed they would threaten again when Kane did well to turn Emre Can and run from his own half. Liverpool players swarmed around him, Kane went down but the ball was legitimately turned over with Jordan Henderson angling it forward, deflecting off Dele Alli’s head and between Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier for Mohamed Salah to run on to and steer a low shot across Lloris.
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Suddenly Liverpool appeared to be back in it and pressing but Alli then slid a smart pass beyond Lovren for Son who, clear on goal, saw his shot blocked by Mignolet with an outstretched left leg. Klopp had seen enough. Off came Lovren, on went Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and he was pushed up on the left with Philippe Coutinho dropping into midfield, Joe Gomez inside to centre-half and Can back to right-back.
It was from there, though, on the stroke of half-time that Can brought down Alli, after being tricked by the midfielder, and Eriksen’s free-kick was headed out by Matip, as he back-pedalled, but only to the edge of his own where it was met by Alli. Can did not react and Alli volleyed sweetly past Mignolet.
For Liverpool, it got worse. Into the second-half and Mignolet flapped at a free-kick, punching it for no reason when there was no Spurs player close to him, delivering it straight to Vertonghen whose shot was cleared off the line by Roberto Firmino but only to Kane. And we all know what then happens. Another goal.
Liverpool appeared spent but Coutinho was only denied by Lloris with a brilliant one-handed save, at full-stretch, who pushing his left-foot shot onto the cross-bar and then recovered quickly to collect the rebound. Then Oxlade-Chamberlain won the ball down the right and pulled it back to Salah whose side-footed shot was kicked away by Lloris as he adjusted his feet quickly. The game played itself out and despite those saves Liverpool had long been beaten.
What a time to be a Spurs fan
That United v Spurs match next week really is so exciting (or at least it is until you remember that Mourinho will be managing one of the team) and the way the two sides are playing at the moment, Tottenham should have the confidence to go there and get a win.
Once again they were outstanding today, with the English trio of Kane, Winks and Alli all superb. Pochettino's back five were also excellent and largely restricted Liverpool to hopeful crosses that were meat and drink for Vertonghen et al.
For Liverpool, it was another defensive horror show, with the hapless Lovren hooked after a half-hour nightmare where he was culpable for both of Tottenham's opening two goals. Klopp can bristle all he likes at criticism of his team's defenders, but he desperately needs to sort it out quickly because they have just one win in six league matches and are three points off the top five.
