📰 Table Of Contents
Liverpool vs Tottenham match preview
In one of the worst league seasons Tottenham fans will care to remember, their solitary domestic home win in more than three months could prove a glorious one.
Lucas Bergvall scored the 86th-minute winner at home to Liverpool in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-finals on January 8, keeping Spurs’ season emphatically alive in the competition that provided their most recent trophy 17 years ago.
Manager Ange Postecoglou was mocked by many for issuing a public reminder that he tends to win silverware in the second season of his tenures, but his players have done their bit so far to back up his bravery by moving within sight of their first final in four years, as well as advancing in the FA Cup and Europa League.
Unfortunately for Postecoglou, Tottenham’s path to Wembley Stadium requires them to avoid becoming the 12th team this season to lose by more than one goal at Premier League champions in waiting Liverpool, who thrashed them 6-3 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 22.
Pressure is for tyres 🛞
Ange Postecoglou is keeping cool as Tottenham aim to end their trophy drought 🏆#spurs | #carabaocup pic.twitter.com/EAiPqL8kFP
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) February 5, 2025
Liverpool have won three games and netted 10 times at home since the first leg, although two of those victories and eight of the goals came across meetings with Ipswich Town – second-bottom in the Premier League – and fourth-tier Accrington Stanley.
“We were quite close to getting a result [in the first leg] until the last few seconds,” said Reds boss Arne Slot. “Nothing changes for this game, compared to others.
“If you wear this shirt, if you go out at Anfield, there is only one thing that is expected of you – and that’s winning the game.
“If you reach the semi-final against Tottenham, you know it’s going to be a difficult one. But I think we will be better than last time as well [as Spurs].”
An update from Arne Slot on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s injury 🗣️ https://t.co/Ogkse2nZUk pic.twitter.com/5tinilec9A
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 5, 2025
Slot won the Dutch Cup with Feyenoord last season and a semi-final exit for holders Liverpool would be the first real blemish on his first season in charge.
Newcastle start with a 2-0 advantage when they host Arsenal in the first semi-final on Wednesday (8pm GMT), with the final on March 16.
Liverpool vs Spurs team news
Trent Alexander-Arnold is Liverpool’s only absentee with a short-term thigh injury the wideman sustained during the 2-0 win at Bournemouth on Saturday.
Slot said he would tell goalkeepers Caoimhin Kelleher and Alisson Becker who would start the game on Wednesday.
Forward Cody Gakpo is the top scorer of the players still involved in this season’s EFL Cup, contributing four goals and an assist.
The Netherlands international scored twice after the 89th minute in Liverpool’s 5-1 third round win at home to West Ham and two inside 17 minutes in their 3-2 victory at Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round.
Defenders Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson and winger Luis Diaz are among the players who were on the bench for the first leg but could start this time.
Tottenham are emerging from the much-discussed injury crisis that has hindered Postecoglou’s attempts to establish them as a consistent force this season.
Ange Postecoglou says Micky van de Ven will not feature in their EFL Cup second leg with Liverpool. pic.twitter.com/EPgYorBvq2
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 5, 2025
Bayern Munich loanee Mathys Tel could be in contention to make his debut in attack, while Austria centre-back Kevin Danso’s loan arrival with an obligation to buy from Lens was announced shortly before Spurs won 2-0 at Brentford on Sunday.
Danso’s signing is a timely one after Radu Dragusin’s knee surgery, and the returns of Djed Spence and Ben Davies at the back have also given Postecoglou more options.
The Australian had been hopeful that defender Micky van de Ven would come back from injury for the second leg before declaring on Wednesday that the Netherlands international will not be involved.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, defender Destiny Udogie, midfielder James Maddison and forwards Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Dominic Solanke remain out.
Liverpool vs Tottenham expected line-ups
Liverpool starting XI: Alisson, Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Gakpo, Diaz, Salah
Tottenham starting XI: Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Danso, Davies, Spence, Bentancur, Bissouma, Sarr, Kulusevski, Richarlison, Son
How to watch Liverpool vs Spurs: Live stream, TV channel
Kick-off is at 20:00 UK time, with live coverage on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Ultra commencing at 19:00.
Fans wanting to live stream the action can watch via Sky GO on a wide range of devices including mobile phones and tablets.
Liverpool vs Tottenham stats
- Liverpool have won 11 of the last 13 home matches while scoring more than 1.5 goals
- In 9 of the last 10 Liverpool home matches in the EFL Cup, the sum of goals was over 2.5
- Liverpool have won the last 5 home matches in a row in the EFL Cup and the sum of goals was over 2.5
- Liverpool have won the last 5 home matches in a row in the EFL Cup while scoring more than 1.5 goals
- In 7 of the last 9 Liverpool home matches in the EFL Cup, the sum of goals was over 3.5
- In 7 of the last 9 Tottenham matches the sum of goals was over 2.5
- In 8 of the last 10 Tottenham matches in the EFL Cup, the sum of goals was under 3.5
- In the last 4 Tottenham matches the sum of goals was under 3.5
- In 5 of the last 6 Tottenham away matches the sum of goals was under 3.5
- In 4 of the last 5 Tottenham matches in the EFL Cup, the sum of goals was over 2.5
Liverpool vs Spurs prediction
Liverpool vs Spurs predictionOutside of the bottom three, Tottenham would be strong candidates for the Premier League team least poised to staunchly defend a lead.
Nottingham Forest are the only team to have stopped Liverpool from scoring since Slot’s appointment, so it would be a considerable surprise if they did not find the net at a ground where they have averaged comfortably more than two goals a game in all competitions this season.
Postecoglou is unlikely to channel the ghosts of Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho or George Graham by transforming his notoriously open tactics, but a first clean sheet in eight league games for Spurs last Sunday could give them greater confidence of containing the likes of Gakpo and Premier League top scorer Mohamed Salah enough to go through.
The good news for Tottenham is that only Liverpool and second-placed Arsenal have outscored them in the top flight in 2024/25, although the Reds have the best defensive record and conceded once at home in the league phase of the Champions League.
Mathys checking in 👋
🔹 @AlipayPlus pic.twitter.com/Ca5Yvas28c
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 4, 2025
Liverpool have beaten seven of the 12 Premier League teams to have visited them this season by more than one goal, and they scored four inside the first hour in a 4-2 win when Tottenham arrived in May.
Games between the clubs, unsurprisingly, were tighter immediately before Postecoglou took over: of the seven editions between October 2019 and April 2023, two were draws and four decided by a goal.
Postecoglou spoke last week of the energy drain required for his depleted squad to play on successive Sundays and Thursdays, so the contrasting injury and fitness issues each manager is facing could make the difference here.
Expect both teams to score, Spurs to do enough to take the tie to extra time and Liverpool – winners of this competition more than any other team – to edge to the final.
