Van Dijk reveals Simons chat after red card in Tottenham win

Virgil van Dijk has said he spoke to Xavi Simons following the midfielder’s red card in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Tottenham and insisted there was no intent to cause injury.

Simons was sent off in the first half after a VAR review showed the 22-year-old had dragged his studs down the back of Van Dijk’s calf.

The dismissal proved pivotal as Liverpool went on to claim victory in north London, moving up to fifth in the Premier League table while Spurs slipped to 13th.

“I do not think there was any intention to hurt me, but obviously he hurt me and then the referee and VAR made the decision to send him off,” Van Dijk said.

“I spoke to him. It is a chat that no-one needs to know.”

Injury concern for Isak

Liverpool’s win was tempered by concern over Alexander Isak, who was forced off shortly after scoring the opening goal.

The forward appeared to be in significant discomfort following a collision with Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven.

“Injuries unfortunately are part of football and hopefully with Alex it is not too bad,” Van Dijk said. “He scored a great goal. It is too soon after the game to know the extent of it. He will need to be assessed.

“We all saw how bad it looked with Alex, but hopefully it will not be too bad.”

Liverpool remain unbeaten in six matches in all competitions but were pushed late on by a depleted Spurs side, who threatened an equaliser despite finishing the match with nine players.

“The immediate reaction coming off was that it was a chaotic last five to 10 minutes,” Van Dijk said. “It was not great, but to get the three points is massive. There was nothing wrong up to us conceding a goal.

“We need to analyse the last part, but personally I am very pleased and it is on to the next one.”

He added that Liverpool must improve their game management in such moments but played down concerns.

“When you concede a goal and their fans get behind them, it is never easy to make the right decisions and find the right solutions,” he said.

“That is something we can improve, but I do not think it is worrying. It is a transition and we need to keep getting better.

“Winning more and getting results is always positive,” he said. “For us it is about staying calm and taking each game as it comes.

“Today we won. Now we have a couple of days off, we will recover and then focus on Wolves. It will be a tough game and we have to be ready.

“First we have Christmas. Being with your family and being healthy are the most important things in life.”