Roberto Firmino ends Liverpool goal drought in dominant win at Tottenham

Jürgen Klopp had promised that his Liverpool team were “on fire to strike back” after their five-game winless streak in the Premier League, which had yielded only three points and one goal. On a night when Sadio Mané provided the spark, the champions delivered on the promise to jump back up into fourth place.

The decisive details have eluded them in recent weeks but not here. Mané was central to Liverpool’s first and second goals – scored by Roberto Firmino and Trent Alexander-Arnold – and, after Pierre-Emile Højbjerg had raised the prospect of an unlikely Tottenham comeback, Mané got the third himself. It was a night when he could have had three or four.

The victory ensured that Liverpool did not lose further ground to the leaders, Manchester City, and advertised a return to their quick and incisive best but for Spurs a woeful defensive performance was compounded by the loss of their attacking talisman, Harry Kane, to injury. Kane was caught early on by a slide tackle from Thiago Alcântara – he got his right foot stuck under the Liverpool midfielder’s side and appeared to roll it – while he would land awkwardly on the other ankle in the 34th minute. On both occasions, he played on after treatment but the alarm bells rang for Spurs when he did not reappear for the second half.

José Mourinho tried both three and four at the back, although neither system could legislate for the individual errors that played a part in each Liverpool goal. The first followed a mix-up between Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier while the second came after a weak parry by the goalkeeper. The third was the worst of the lot.

Mourinho had preferred Joe Rodon to Toby Alderweireld, having seen the value in the 23-year-old’s greater pace, but he got his bearings and body shape all wrong when attempting to deal with an Alexander-Arnold cross. He failed to clear and Mané punished him with an instinctive half-volley. The strange thing was that prior to this game, Spurs had conceded only five league goals in open play all season.

Klopp had once again been unable to name a recognised central defensive partnership. With Fabinho out with a muscle problem, he started with the fit again Jordan Henderson – another midfielder doing a job out of position – alongside Joël Matip, who was back from injury. Matip would last only until half-time, at which point Klopp introduced Nat Phillips. The frustration for Spurs was that they barely laid a glove on Liverpool in the second half save for Højbjerg’s blockbuster, his first goal for the club. Phillips, who looks a little raw, was not tested.

Trent Alexander-Arnold lashes in Liverpool’s second goal on a night when many of their players rediscovered some form. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

The tone was set in the second minute when Spurs were cut apart too easily and Mané was clean through on Lloris’s goal. On this occasion, the finish was sliced and wasteful.

Spurs thought they had the lead moments later when Kane sent Son Heung-min in on goal and he finished past Alisson, who was slow to get down. The move was sparked by Tanguy Ndombele racing away from Thiago and finding Son but, to Spurs’s horror, VAR would spot an offside against the South Korean at the point before he laid off to Kane.

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It was fast and exciting throughout the first half, the technical quality high, the incidents plentiful. Ndombele showcased a lovely touch and his trademark spin and burst move, although his influence would fade.

It was interesting to see Klopp start Thiago as one of his No 8s, rather than in front of the back four. That role went to Gini Wijnaldum. Thiago’s work off the ball did not match his stuff with it.

Spurs wanted to break quickly and Steven Bergwijn played in Son on 21 minutes. He was denied by Alisson. But it was Liverpool who looked the more threatening, with Mané darting into dangerous areas time and again. He extended Lloris after a Mohamed Salah flick, although he had looked offside earlier in the buildup, while he was denied by a last-ditch Rodon challenge and another Lloris save.

The breakthrough came in first-half stoppage-time and it followed Mané getting in around the back on to a Henderson pass and crossing low. Dier felt Lloris coming for the ball and hesitated and so then did the goalkeeper. Firmino gobbled up the tap-in.

Mourinho switched from 3-4-3 to 4-2-3-1 at the interval but his team did not start the second half well. Salah had already fired high when Lloris patted a tame Mané shot into Alexander-Arnold’s path and he ripped a drive into the bottom corner.

Spurs flickered when Højbjerg fizzed home from outside the area but it was all Liverpool thereafter. They thought they had the third when Salah’s shot deflected past Lloris only for VAR to rule on a Firmino handball in the buildup. Mané was not in the mood to be denied.