Ryan Mason's second managerial baptism of fire continues on Sunday afternoon, as Tottenham Hotspur travel to Anfield for a Premier League date with Liverpool.
The Lilywhites fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Manchester United in midweek, one day after the Reds also came from behind to defeat West Ham United 2-1.
Match preview
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While immediately playing down his side's chances of a top-four finish and Champions League qualification, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was otherwise filled with pride as his side recovered from a one-goal deficit to see off West Ham, albeit with a couple of scares along the way.
Cody Gakpo's stunner and Joel Matip's thunderous header cancelled out a sublime opener from Lucas Paqueta, although Jarrod Bowen had a strike ruled out for offside before the officials waved away vociferous protests for a late penalty against Thiago Alcantara for handball.
As David Moyes pulled no punches towards the end of the match, Klopp insisted that he understood his counterpart's frustration while revelling in his side's third successive Premier League win, which briefly propelled the Reds into sixth place in the table before they were bumped back down to seventh by Tottenham on Thursday.
With a seven-point gap to make up to Manchester United having played a game more than the Red Devils, Liverpool would still need nothing short of an end-of-season miracle to continue with the European big boys, but taking 11 points from the last 15 on offer means that Klopp's side are still in position to earn some form of continental football, whether that be Champions League, Europa League or Europa Conference League.
The Reds scored at least twice for the fourth Premier League game in a row on Wednesday night, albeit while failing to keep a clean sheet for a fourth match in succession, and Leeds United remain the only team to get the better of Liverpool at Anfield in the top flight this term - only Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United can better the Reds' 34 points from 15 Premier League home games.
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A penny for Daniel Levy's thoughts as Man United raced into a 2-0 lead over Tottenham before the break on Wednesday, as the Spurs faithful - some of whom will controversially be refunded for their miserable journeys to Newcastle - made their feelings towards the despised chairman very clear indeed.
However, whatever choice words that Mason had for his dejected players at half time spurred Spurs on, and the Lilywhites entered the post-Cristian Stellini era with a creditable point as Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min responded to Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford's earlier efforts.
While that hard-earned draw will give Mason - who was surprisingly not promoted to top dog when Antonio Conte left - something to build on, it has done little to boost Tottenham's fleeting hopes of breaking into the top four, lying fifth in the rankings and six points worse off than Man United, who have a pair of games in hand.
Thursday's game was still a considerable improvement from their 6-1 mauling at the hands of Newcastle United, but a seven-game run without a clean sheet makes for grim reading before a taxing trip to Anfield, and the visitors are winless in seven successive away fixtures since overcoming Preston North End in January's FA Cup tie.
Furthermore, Liverpool's 2-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November extended the Lilywhites' winless run against the Reds to 11 matches since their 4-1 demolition job in October 2017, but they came away from Anfield with a 1-1 draw to their name last season - a slice of the spoils would do neither top-four outsider the world of good this time around, though.
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Still moving forward without long-term absentees Stefan Bajcetic (adductor) and Calvin Ramsay (knee), Liverpool also had to make do without Ibrahima Konate for the win over West Ham due to a few concerns over his workload.
Klopp affirmed after the game that the Frenchman was not carrying any sort of injury, though, so he ought to make an immediate return to the backline here - demoting match-winner Matip to the bench in the process - while Roberto Firmino's muscular problem will not heal in time for Sunday either. Naby Keita might be in with a slim chance of making his comeback from a similar concern, though.
The Reds boss has been loath to drop Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota from the first XI recently, but with the Portuguese taking a knock to the back on Wednesday, Klopp should consider bringing Darwin Nunez back into the fold sometime soon.
Tottenham were also without one of their defensive mainstays for the draw with Man United, as Hugo Lloris sat out with the hip problem that he picked up in the first half of the Newcastle drubbing, and the Frenchman will not be back in between the sticks here.
Yves Bissouma (ankle), Rodrigo Bentancur (ACL), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring) and Emerson Royal (knee) make up a quartet of known absentees for the visitors, who had Lucas Moura back from a three-game ban on Thursday, but Dejan Kulusevski is first in line for any attacking alterations and should be in with a strong chance of displacing Richarlison.
Eric Dier in particular had a night to forget on Thursday, failing to close down the angle for Rashford's goal and inexplicably missing a close-range header, but the Englishman should be in no danger of losing his place in the three-man rearguard.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Jones; Salah, Gakpo, Nunez
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Forster; Romero, Dier, Lenglet; Porro, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son
We say: Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Klopp was left elated with a perceived improvement in his side's defensive display against West Ham, but the Reds still gave up plenty of chances in midweek and should not hold out hope of a clean sheet against a goal-happy Spurs side.
We would not be surprised to see the net ripple a few times in an Anfield classic as both sides retain ambitions of sneaking into the top four, but despite the manner of their midweek fightback, a trip to Anfield - where they have not won since 2011 - should still be a bridge too far for Tottenham, whose away-day misfortune looks set to continue.
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Ben Knapton
