Colin Pascoe praises Mario Balotelli efforts following winning goal

Liverpool assistant manager Colin Pascoe has praised the hard work of striker Mario Balotelli after his goal gave the team a slender 3-2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

The Anfield club claimed victory in the Premier League, with Balotelli's first Premier League goal for Liverpool seven minutes from time building on the earlier efforts of Lazar Markovic and Steven Gerrard.

"Brendan had to shoot off to catch a plane. Tottenham have been on a great run, it was two good teams but the way we came through was fantastic," Pascoe told BT Sport after the game.

"Mario Balotelli has been working hard in training and for the last couple of weeks he's been ill so it's great that he scored the winner. Steven Gerrard felt his hamstring and felt he had to come off.

"It was important to win tonight, it was a great win and we deserved it."

The victory sees Liverpool sitting in seventh spot in the Premier League table on 42 points.