An early goal and some late drama bookended this battle for the top four at Anfield. Mohamed Salah had put Liverpool in the driving seat, and himself at the top of the goalscoring charts before Harry Kane and Tottenham Hotspur savaged a draw in the dying seconds.
Salah opened the scoring in the third minute, and eighty more passed before the game witnessed a flurry of incidents in the final ten. Victor Wanyama came off the bench on the 79th minute, and just seconds later he was getting his side back into the game with a blast into the top corner.
Loris Karius saved one penalty from Kane, awarded after much deliberation between referee Jon Moss and his linesman. Salah made it two in injury time, dancing through the Spurs defence before poking past Hugo Lloris prompting celebrations around the ground and from Jurgen Klopp on the Liverpool bench.
But then the same linesman awarded a penalty much to the annoyance of the home supporters, and Kane made no mistake on this occasion, grabbing a point for his side and returning to the top of the goalscoring charts ahead of Salah.
It had been a long afternoon for the home fans in Anfield for this game which Liverpool manager Klopp admitted before the game was a six pointer, but both sides cancelled each other out and ended up with just the one.
After a disastrous defensive display saw them suffer a 4-1 defeat the last time they met Spurs, at Wembley in October, Klopp's side embarked on an 18-game unbeaten run in all competitions, which only came to an end last month when they visited Swansea.
The first goal here at Anfield involved similar calamitous defending, but this time it came from Spurs. Davinson Sanchez was put under pressure by Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, and when the ball eventually found its way to Eric Dier, his pass back to Lloris turned out to be the perfect through-ball for Salah who took his tally to 20 for the season.
The Liverpool rearguard, anchored by Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren, were unflappable in the opening stages. This was an unlikely duo, given the general consensus was that the Dutchman had come in to replace Lovren, but they looked like the strongest centre-back partnership seen at the club, at least this season.
Van Dijk was also an attacking threat, getting his head on free kicks from Salah and James Milner, the latter of which had Lloris scrambling across his goal to save. Right back Trent Alexander-Arnold was swinging some quality balls in from his flank, Milner almost found the net from one via a deflection, and Firmino came close with a header from another but couldn't quite get enough on it.
Spurs saw a lot of the ball in the first half, and this inevitably led to a chance. Kane’s through ball created an opening for Son Heung-min, who in turn found Christian Eriksen but his shot was saved by Karius who wasn’t aware that the offside flag had been raised. Mousa Dembele also tested the German goalkeeper from distance but Klopp's new regular No 1 was up to the task.
Pochettino set his side up in a 4-4-2 diamond, similar to the one used in their defeat at Manchester City when they last tasted defeat in a 4-1 reverse, but the Argentine was not deterred and used the system here to dominate possession. Son had a chance to level the scores as the game approached the hour mark, but he was thwarted by Karius who did well to narrow the angle and get his body in the way of the shot.
Liverpool chased everything in midfield, and it seemed all Spurs had to do was wait for them to tire and exploit it. Klopp noticed this and freshened things up by introducing Georginio Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to replace Jordan Henderson and Mane respectively.
This didn’t change much, however, as the visitors continued to hog the ball. Dele Alli threw himself to the ground in search of a penalty, but wasn’t fooling Jon Moss who rightly booked him for simulation. Pochettino tried to force the issue further by sending on Erik Lamela in place of centre back Sanchez, but this also left his side susceptible to the pace of Salah on the counter-attack. It made for an absorbing but often fast-paced tactical affair.
Milner was next to run out of gas and was replaced by Joel Matip as the home side switched to three at the back, and just a minute later Victor Wanyama came off the opposition bench in a change which would get Spurs back into it.
The defensive midfielder was brought on to protect Dier and Jan Vertonghen from the pace of Salah, but in the end it was his attacking contribution which made the biggest impact on the game when he powered one into the top corner after Karius had cleared a set piece.
Then came the incidents and the controversy which, for any TV companies doing a highlights show, was handily condensed into the final five minutes. Karius brought down Kane before saving the Englishman’s spot kick, Salah scored what he thought was a late winner, but then Van Dijk kicked Lamelas calf and the Spurs striker made no mistake with his second strike from 18 yards.
