Liverpool take on Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on Sunday in what is essentially a dead rubber for the Reds.
Having seen Spurs lose to Chelsea on Thursday – their third defeat in a row – Liverpool have now officially qualified for the 2024/25 season. Ange Postecoglou’s team can no longer catch them.
With dreams of winning the title long since forgotten, Liverpool are now basically playing for nothing other than pride.
Of course, that isn’t the only thing necessarily at stake for the Reds, though. This will be Jurgen Klopp’s penultimate match at Anfield and Liverpool should be aiming to send the legendary boss out on a high.
From a Tottenham point of view, only a win will really do if they’re still to catch Aston Villa in fourth. Games between the two teams are usually an entertaining affair and with neither in good form, Jamie Carragher has now predicted what he thinks will happen.
Jamie Carragher predicts Liverpool vs Tottenham
It shouldn’t be forgotten that this game has long been circled as a chance for Liverpool to take revenge on Tottenham.
Although they weren’t particularly at fault when VAR and referee Simon Hooper conspired to rob the Reds of a legitimate Luis Diaz goal in the reverse fixture, Spurs largely revelled in the outcome.
While Liverpool pushed for change in the VAR protocols, Tottenham and their manager offered nothing in the way of sympathy or help.
At the time, that result looked like it could really have an impact at the top of the Premier League table. In truth, had Liverpool come away from it with three points instead of zero – as they may well have done had Diaz’s goal stood – they’d still be in with a slight shot at the title.
However, it cannot be argued that Liverpool are in championship winning form right now. And with that in mind, Carragher gave Tottenham-based podcast An Echo of Glory his prediction for Sunday’s game.
“I am going to go 2-1 [to Liverpool]. Yes,” said the Liverpool legend. “Liverpool can’t keep a clean sheet at the moment, so Tottenham will score. Tottenham can’t keep a clean sheet at the moment, thankfully as well. So, I think we will have a little too much for you. Just. I think it will be a tight game, I think it will be a good game, and I am looking forward to watching it.”
Liverpool team news vs Tottenham
With the pressure now completely off Liverpool, it would be nice to see a better performance against Spurs.
This was obviously not the way we’d all hoped the Klopp era would end. However, perhaps the most disappointing thing is that the football on offer is a million miles from the glory years under the 56-year-old.
For his last three games, let’s get back to playing something like our best.
That can hopefully start tomorrow, although Klopp gave some bad injury news in the build-up to the game on Friday. With Diogo Jota already ruled out, Virgil van Dijk is now a doubt, too.
Aside from those two and Liverpool’s longer-term issues though, everyone should be available. Even Conor Bradley is back in training and could feature. Time to get back to winning ways.