Jurgen Klopp’s team returned to winning ways at Anfield with a strong attacking effort highlighted by their 21-year-old midfielder.
Liverpool’s Premier League title aspirations were already ended, but Harvey Elliott gave his chances of making England’s Euro 2024 squad a boost by playing a key role in Sunday’s thrilling 4-2 win over Tottenham.
Much of the build-up to this Premier League battle was understandably centered on Mohamed Salah, following the Egyptian’s spat with Jurgen Klopp in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with West Ham, and the Egyptian opened the scoring at Anfield to much praise.
However, Elliott stole the show after Andy Robertson gave Liverpool a well-deserved 2-0 lead, with the Englishman setting up Cody Gakpo’s third goal with a magnificent cross before putting the game out of reach with a breathtaking strike into the top corner of the Tottenham goal.
The awful visitors did manage to score a couple of goals late on through Richarlison and Son Heung-min as Jurgen Klopp began to make changes in his farewell game at Anfield as Liverpool manager, but the Merseysiders held on comfortably enough to claim a morale-boosting win.
GOAL evaluates all of the Liverpool players on display as Tottenham’s slim chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League went away in smoke…
Andy Robertson Liverpool Tottenham, Premier League 2023-24 Goalkeeper and Defense.
Alisson Becker (6/10):
There wasn’t much to do in the first half other than pick out a handful of passes, but they were quick to deal with Johnson’s header shortly after the break. There was nothing he could do about either goal.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (6/10):
As always, a fantastic outlet down the right side, but also deserves credit for totally neutralising Johnson before the Welshman was shifted to the opposite wing.
Jarell Quansah(5/10):
Strong in the air and in the tackle, the kid also made a well-timed tackle on Son early in the second half. However, he entirely lost Richarlison for the Brazilian goal.
Virgil Van Dijk (6/10):
Stopped Son in his tracks when called upon in the first half, but is failing to command a defence that hasn’t maintained a clean sheet since March, and was fortunate not to be fined for bringing an unmarked Richarlison onside late on.
Andy Robertson (8/10):
He, like Alexander-Arnold, is always willing to bomb forward, so it was no surprise to see him score after following up on a rebound from a Salah shot that he had set up himself. In addition, he played an excellent cross-field pass in the buildup to the fourth goal.
Harvey Elliott (9/10):
Got the nod ahead of Szoboszlai and Jones on the right side of the midfield, and he justified it with a highly energetic display that included a lovely cross for Gakpo’s header and a thundering strike from distance to put it 4-0. It’s worth noting that Elliott is only 21 years old; he has a solid chance of becoming a regular next season.
Wataru Endo (7/10):
After a strong performance, he was removed midway through the second half. In the buildup to the opener, they spread the play beautifully and kept things neat and clean, while also demonstrating great daring in winning the ball back.
Alexis Macallister (6/10):
It was a quiet game by his standards. I couldn’t blame his application, but his passing was very awful. Fatigue has taken its toll on the Argentine in the last few weeks of the season.
Luis Diaz, Liverpool Tottenham Premier League 2023-24Getty attack by Mohamed Salah (7/10):
After last week’s touchline spat with Klopp, he came out firing in the first half and broke the deadlock with a superb back-post header. Continued to threaten after that, but never quite returned to his magnificent peak – he even missed an open goal at one point – although he did get an assist for his lay-off to Elliott.
Cody Gakpo (8/10):
Klopp’s choice to start him over Nunez was fully justified, as he was involved in the majority of Liverpool’s greatest attacks, including setting up Salah for the opener with a lovely cross from the left side and then scoring Liverpool’s lethal third goal with a brilliant header.
Luis Diaz (6/10):
He was a continuous thorn in Tottenham’s side and worked tirelessly, but there was no end result, and he was substituted with 15 minutes remaining.
Jurgen Klopp Liverpool Tottenham, Premier League 2023-24Getty Subs and Manager: Joe Gomez (4/10).
Took over as left-back from Robertson and utterly lost Johnson on Richarlison’s goal.
Stefan Bajcetic (5/10):
The injury-plagued Spaniard made a welcome return to first-team action, and he performed admirably during his brief cameo, but Liverpool certainly lost some control without Endo, whom he replaced.
Darwin Nunez (4/10):
Almost picked up an assist in his 15 minutes on the field, but he was, predictably, offside. Then he squandered a tremendous opportunity to score after a fantastic Salah pass. Again, unfortunately predictable.
Ryan Gravenberch (5/10):
Came on in the 76th minute for Mac Allister, but had little impact.
Dominik Szoboszlai(5/10):
He just played eight minutes, although he did swing over a couple of decent crosses and squandered a good chance.
Jurgen Klopp(7/10):
His main selection calls were bang on, but he may have erred by taking Endo off too early, as Liverpool lost control of the game in the fourth quarter.