Tottenham vs. Liverpool score: Heung-min Son strikes late as Man City gain ground in Premier League race

Four goals, a red card and a series of calamitous misses. Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool served up a festive feast in north London, one which might have delighted Pep Guardiola more than anyone else.

With Liverpool and Chelsea both dropping points on a dramatic Sunday, Manchester City’s 4-0 thumping of Newcastle means they will celebrate Christmas three points clear at the top of the Premier League. In the end Jurgen Klopp’s side might be relieved they are even that close to the leaders after an absorbing afternoon in north London, one where Tottenham missed a host of chances against a Liverpool side who ended the match with 10 men, goalscorer and provider Andrew Robertson sent off for a wild challenge in the second half. Had he been more unfortunate he might not have been on the pitch to score, assist or get red carded after a wild challenge by Harry Kane.

Robbed of Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara due to positive COVID-19 cases it was perhaps no wonder Liverpool struggled to truly control a game in which they were all too frequently punched through by the swift counter attacking of Heung-min Son and Kane. Both found the net. Both spurned chances to win the game. Still Tottenham fans who spent so much of this season watching Nuno Espirito Santo’s side fail to get in positions to waste might at least cherish the fact that this team looked like scoring several goals.

There may be extenuating circumstances behind Spurs’ fortnight without a game but it certainly looked like the enforced rest had given Antonio Conte’s side far greater pep in their step. Kane attacked the contest with a vigor that has been absent for most of this season, his interplay with Son back to its devastating best. Those two, with Dele Alli making late runs to midfield to join them, might have had three or four goals between them.

Ultimately it was only Kane who took a chance in the first half, seizing on fine work done by Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele behind him to first win the ball back in the Liverpool half and then unleash him in the left channel between Ibrahima Konate and Andrew Robertson. His first time shot was driven ferociously beyond Alisson.

By the midway point of the first half Spurs might have been out of sight. Twice Son spurned opportunities in behind, first when Kane put a pass too far beyond him for his diving shot to hit the target and then a run straight at Alisson that may have come from an offside position. None of his misses were as egregious as Dele’s, teed up perfectly by Kane only to put the ball near enough to the goalkeeper that he could push it to safety.

The profligacy wore on into the second half, Kane receiving an undercooked pass from Dele that left him unable to get the ball around or over Alisson. 

Equally Kane perhaps ought not to have been on the pitch to waste some of them, a wild sliding tackle on Robertson deemed worthy only of a yellow card. VAR Chris Kavanagh did not deem it worthy of instructing Paul Tierney to take a further look at the monitor. The England captain was lucky to still be on the pitch. So was his opponent.

Certainly Jurgen Klopp would have been delighted to see Robertson emerge from the clash unscathed. Soon after he was hooking the ball across for Diogo Jota to flick home the equalizer. Liverpool’s full backs were devastating. Every ball Trent Alexander-Arnold struck cannoned off his boot, Hugo Lloris saving exceptionally with his left leg just before the interval.

With Liverpool’s front three, which became a four after Roberto Firmino’s introduction on the hour, offering more than enough to test the Tottenham back five Robertson and Alexander-Arnold found themselves with the run of the pitch

This match had already provided more than its fair share of drama but it was far from done. Alisson had had his nervy moments earlier in the match — not least when he and Alexander-Arnold allowed a ball to bounce away from them outside the box with Kane lurking menacingly nearby — but few would have expected him to do anything but boot the ball to safety when Harry Winks slipped it into the space behind Joel Matip. As he slid the ball clipped over him. Tottenham had missed their fair share of presentable opportunities but Son was not about to let an open goal pass him as he marked his 300th game for the club with his 115th goal.

Liverpool plowed forward with fury, perhaps too much when Robertson swung out at Emerson. This time Tierney did head to the pitch side monitor, determining that Scotland’s captain would not get the same reprieve England’s had earlier in the contest. The Reds reluctantly dropped into a defensive formation that is anathema to Klopp but at least allowed them to preserve a point, one which means Manchester City are not quite out of reach.