Mario Balotelli had a lively start to his Liverpool career at White Hart Lane this afternoon, but it was three of their England internationals that linked to give the Merseysiders a 1-0 lead at the break in North London this afternoon.
Balotelli had a chance to make an immediate impact in a Liverpool shirt in just the third minute, but, having risen above Danny Rose at the back post to meet Daniel Sturridge's cross, his downward header was parried away by Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris before the rebound was scrambled out for a corner.
However, the visitors would not have to wait much longer to break the deadlock. Sturridge picked out Jordan Henderson, who had advanced into the Spurs area. Rather than going for goal himself, the midfielder played a low pass across the face of goal for Raheem Sterling, who was able to squeeze his shot inside Lloris's near post in the eighth minute.
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Within 60 seconds of having fallen behind, the home side were presented with the opportunity to level up proceedings when Emmanuel Adebayor beat Simon Mignolet to a long ball, but, with the Liverpool goalkeeper stranded, the Spurs striker could only lift his effort from the edge of the area on to the roof of the net.
Liverpool then went on to create two chances in quick succession, but Balotelli headed wide from close range, while Sturridge saw his strike from 20 yards out skim off target.
As the half wore on, Balotelli continued to threaten and he had an almost open net to fire into when a wayward clearance from Lloris fell his way 40 yards out, but the Italian's volleyed effort trickled well wide of the goal.
In the final stages of the half, Spurs started to have more possession and it appeared that it was going to pay off when Adebayor flicked the ball into the path of an unmarked Nacer Chadli, but his powerful volley was pushed away from danger by Mignolet.
Liam Apicella
