Tottenham vs Liverpool Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man + Prediction

Tottenham Hotspur play host to rivals Liverpool at White Hart Lane on Sunday afternoon with both sides looking to head into the international break on a positive note.

Spurs have enjoyed an excellent start to the new season and boast a 100% record after back-to-back victories over West Ham and Queens Park Rangers, with the Lillywhites yet to concede a goal in their two fixtures so far.

Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping to keep the run going and go into the two week break on maximum points but they’ll need to improve upon their recent record against Liverpool in order to do so.

The Merseysiders thrashed Spurs in both fixtures last season with a 4-0 win at Anfield followed by a 5-0 humiliation at White Hart Lane – which ended a run of five straight defeats in North London for the Reds.

Brendan Rodgers men beat Southampton 2-1 on the opening weekend but slumped to a disappointing 3-1 defeat to champions Manchester City on Monday night, so Liverpool will be desperate to get their title challenge back on track tomorrow.

Team News

Tottenham are expected to make wholesale changes from the side that beat AEL 3-0 in the Europa League on Thursday, with the likes of Christian Eriksen, Emmanuel Adebayor and Jan Vertonghen among those likely to be recalled.

Kyle Walker remains out through injury so summer signing Eric Dier will get another chance to impress at right-back, while Paulinho will be hoping to retain his place after scoring in midweek.

New signing Fazio won’t feature, and striker Roberto Soldado is struggling with a neck injury.

Liverpool are expected to hand new signing Mario Balotelli his debut. This could possibly mean Daniel Sturridge moving out to the left side of the attack, with Philippe Coutinho the unlucky one to miss out.

Adam Lallana is back in the squad but will most likely have to settle for a place on the bench along with fellow summer signing Lazar Markovic, but Martin Skrtel is expected to play despite a minor ankle injury.

Glen Johnson is struggling with a knock picked up on Monday so Javier Manquillo is expected to deputise at right-back, but Alberto Moreno should shake off an ankle problem to start at left-back.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Mario Balotelli: All eyes will be on the Italian hitman if Rodgers opts to hand him his debut following his £16m move from AC Milan.

Predicted Score

Tottenham 1-1 Liverpool: I expect a far more cautious game between these two than we saw last season as neither team will want to give much away this early on in the season, so I predict we’ll see a low scoring draw.

What team would you put out and whats your predicted score for the game?