Liverpool go into the clash against Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow afternoon as heavy favourites with very few people giving Spurs any chance despite their impressive result over Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday.
With Mauricio Pochettino shifting between various tactical approaches and formations in Tottenham’s last few games, it is anybody’s guess what line up he will name for Spurs’ trip to Anfield.
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has claimedthat the Spurs manager will have learned a lot from their opponents’ last two matches against Manchester United and Genk.
He backed the Argentine to take Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s approach and go with three at the back, two wing backs and two forwards upfront in order to push Liverpool’s defenders back.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Keown wrote: “Mauricio Pochettino will have studied how Manchester United stifled the league leaders last week.
“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used 3-4-1-2 at Old Trafford, he had his wing-backs play high, he used two fast-paced forwards in Marcus Rashford and Daniel James. It left Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip in a series of foot races.”
The 53-year-old also called for the Lilywhites to follow Genk’s lead by playing long balls into the channels which seemed to cause a lot of trouble for the Reds defence in midweek.
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Keown added, “Genk also had two in attack in the Champions League on Wednesday and they caused problems, too. The Belgians had just 25.6 per cent possession but several long balls into the channels left Liverpool looking vulnerable.
“Do Tottenham try to imitate that? In midweek, Pochettino used 4-2-3-1 and won 5-0 against Crvena Zvezda in the Champions League. He may decide to stick with that, but starting two up top could be the best way to test Liverpool’s centre backs.
“Using Harry Kane on his own leaves him at risk of getting gobbled up by Van Dijk and Matip. Tottenham have to turn the hosts’ strength into a weakness – use that space vacated by Robertson and Alexander-Arnold, who will be back after missing the trip to Genk with illness.
“Pose a threat with your pace and keep two up there, like United did. Pochettino has options. As well as Kane, he has Erik Lamela, Heung-min Son and Lucas Moura – and none of those three are slouches.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Several teams in the Premier League and the Champions League have already proved this season that Liverpool can be got at. It is important that Spurs are brave on Sunday and take the game to the hosts instead of sitting back as I can certainly see us scoring a couple of goals.
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