Diogo Jota wins thriller for Liverpool after Spurs’ rousing late comeback

Tottenham relived their nightmares at Anfield. There was a repeat of the Newcastle ordeal, ticket refunds due again, redemption in the form of a three-goal comeback, no refunds required, then the final blow of gifting Liverpool a 94th-minute winner with one more calamitous lapse. Torment stalks Spurs on their travels.

The interim manager Ryan Mason was at least spared the scrutiny that befell Cristian Stellini following the 6-1 rout at St James’ Park last Sunday, although it looked ominous when Jürgen Klopp’s team sauntered into a three-goal lead after 15 minutes. “I’d be lying if I say there wasn’t a bit of fear at that point,” Mason said.

Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and the former Everton forward Richarlison, scoring his first league goal for the club in the 93rd minute, appeared to have conjured a stunning reprieve only for a dreadful error by Lucas Moura to help Liverpool off the floor. The Spurs substitute played a woeful backpass straight to Diogo Jota 99 seconds after Richarlison’s equaliser and the Liverpool striker shattered the visitors with a clinical finish past Fraser Forster.

From agony to ecstasy and back again, Spurs’ terrible record at Anfield continues. Liverpool’s defending also left much to be desired but their quality in attack carried them onwards and upwards into fifth, leapfrogging Spurs in the process. But only just. Mason claimed Jota should not have been on the pitch to score the winner having caught Oliver Skipp in the face with a raised boot. Skipp had earlier escaped sanction for a horrible foul on Luis Díaz. Klopp, incensed that Mohamed Salah had not been awarded a free-kick moments before Spurs’ equaliser, celebrated the winner by sprinting up to the face of the fourth official John Brooks. The manager pulled a hamstring in the process and was rightly booked for his disgraceful behaviour. The pain, however, belonged entirely to the visitors.

It took three minutes for Liverpool to breach Spurs’ alleged defence and the flashbacks to begin. Cody Gakpo was too intelligent with his movement and vision for anyone in white to handle and central to all three early goals. For the first, the Netherlands international worked his way into space before finding Trent Alexander-Arnold. The right‑back-turned-quarterback floated a pin-point cross to the back post where Curtis Jones, left completely unmarked by Pedro Porro throughout the move, volleyed home his first Liverpool goal since September 2021.

Porro had tracked Díaz into the penalty area even though the Colombia winger was being marked by Cristian Romero. A brainless defensive start was under way.

Luis Díaz puts Liverpool 2-0 up after only five minutes. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty Images

It was 2-0 from Liverpool’s next, piercing attack. Salah picked out Gakpo’s smart run with a measured pass behind the toiling Eric Dier and the January recruit swept over a first-time cross from the byline. Díaz marked his first start since injuring a knee at Arsenal on 9 October with an emphatic, acrobatic volley at the near post.

The tortured travelling support found some solace in gallows humour. “We want our money back,” the Spurs supporters sang, before a rendition of “How shit must you be? It’s only 2-0.” That chant was soon rendered obsolete when Romero lunged into a ridiculous challenge on Gakpo just inside the area to concede the most blatant of penalties. The World Cup-winning defender still had the temerity to complain.

Salah had missed his last two spot-kicks against Bournemouth and Arsenal but made no mistake this time, swiping the spot-kick down the middle of Forster’s goal. On his 300th appearance for Liverpool, the Egypt international moved to joint fifth on the club’s all‑time league goalscorers’ list alongside Harry Chambers with 135.

Tottenham’s Richarlison celebrates scoring their third goal with the travelling fans. Photograph: Carl Recine/Reuters

Then, from out of nowhere, the visitors burst into life and created enough opportunities to have drawn level by half-time with Liverpool easing off. Virgil van Dijk prevented Son converting a Kane pass when hacking clear in front of his goalline after the striker had fired past Alisson. Seconds later Kane volleyed an Ivan Perisic cross through the legs of the Liverpool goalkeeper after the Croatian wing-back had been released by a fine Skipp pass. Dejan Kulusevski wasted a glorious chance when clean through and Son struck a post after latching on to Dier’s long ball although was flagged offside.

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During the half-time interval a plane circled the stadium dragging a banner that read: “LFC – Sox – Penguins – Same problems FSG Out”. The timing was comical.

Son hit the woodwork for a second time when cutting across Ibrahima Konaté and curling a low shot against the base of Alisson’s left-hand post. Romero struck the right-hand post seconds later when throwing himself at Kane’s delicate cross to steer a volley wide of the Liverpool keeper.

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Just when it seemed Liverpool had quelled the threat and regained control, Spurs struck again. Romero released Son with a beautifully weighted pass over the home defence. The South Korea international put his previous misfortune behind him to beat Alisson with a composed finish into the bottom corner. Son delivered the deep free-kick that brought the equaliser, Richarlison stealing in behind Darwin Núñez to send a glancing header down and over Alisson.

The wild celebrations had only just subsided when Moura turned a long clearance from the Liverpool keeper into the path of Jota, and now it was the home crowd’s turn to erupt at the end of a remarkable contest.