Mohamed Salah scored twice as Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-1 on Sunday to maintain their hex over the London club, returning to winning ways after two consecutive Premier League defeats.
Jurgen Klopp’s men started the match 10 points behind fourth-placed Spurs, with questions growing over their ability even to mount a challenge for next season’s Champions League places.
But they dominated the contest from the start and took the lead in the 11th minute when the impressive Darwin Nunez teed up Salah, who fired into the bottom corner.
The visitors’ intensity dropped as the half wore on but they doubled their lead in the 40th minute when Salah took advantage of a horrendous error by Eric Dier, who headed the ball straight into the path of the Egyptian forward.
Harry Kane pulled a goal back in the 70th minute as the decibel count rose among the crowd of 62,000 in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but they fell to a third defeat in four league matches.
Spurs have not beaten Liverpool since 2017 and have now lost seven out of the past nine Premier League matches between the sides.