Tottenham leave Anfield with precious point after Harry Kane’s late equalizer

Harry Kane makes good at the second time of asking as Spurs leave Anfield with a precious point in one of the wildest finishes you’ll ever see. 

Mohamed Salah looked to have broken Spurs’ hearts with an injury time goal.  But Spurs’ never-say-die attitude shone through in the end.

Virgil van Dijk kneed Erik Lamela in the back, which the referee turned a blind eye to. However, the linesman frantically waved his flag, signalling an infraction had occurred. The penalty, although a harsh decision, was given, and Kane stepped up to the spot, rectifying his earlier miss by hammering home his 100th Premier League goal.

With Tottenham trailing 1-0, Victor Wanyama had been on the pitch for 86 seconds before unleashing a wonder strike. Mauricio Pochettino can take the unofficial assist for bringing the Kenyan on.

Minutes later, Kane capitalized on an Dejan Lovren’s egregious error. Spurs’ marksman was brought down for a stonewall penalty. In uncharacteristic fashion, Kane hit the penalty straight at Loris Karius, who made the save to maintain parity.

Taking the match to Liverpool in the second half, the situation improved substantially for the away side, who probably, all things considered, at least a point.

First half

Tottenham endured a nightmare start in their return to Anfield. Liverpool won two uncontested headers in midfield before Davinson Sánchez and Kieran Trippier made hashes of their attempted clearances. The ball fell to Eric Dier, whose ill-advised back pass-turned through ball sent Mohamed Salah unimpeded toward goal.

Salah finished easily for his 20th Premier League goal, opening the scoring only three minutes in. Sánchez didn’t cope well with the hostile environment, the comparatively inexperienced centre back culpable coughing up possession repeatedly in the first half.

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In the 11th minute, he got tied up in a knot on the sideline and, instead of opting to hoof it out of harm’s way and into Row Z, he knocked it into Mane’s shin pads while falling backward. With Sánchez sprawled out, Mane stole the ball, driving forward on another odd-man rush which fizzled out.

Sánchez later inadvertently deflected the ball on an attempted Milner cross, taking it over an outstretched Hugo Lloris. Fortunately the ball dropped wide of the back post.

Liverpool’s high press resembled closely the way Spurs played at home against Manchester United midweek. Jurgen Klopp’s men pursued relentlessly, with a pack mentality, wearing Mousa Dembele like a drenched, wool blanket.

Kieran Trippier, in the 17th minute, spearheaded Tottenham’s first sight on goal, playing a nice ball through to Son, who took one too many touches with Harry Kane poaching at the back post.

The home side also knocked numerous up and unders, consistently putting Tottenham’s rearguard on the back foot. It took about 22 minutes before Kane got his first meaningful touch.

Spurs defiantly continued to try play it out of the back, often getting dispossessed in dangerous areas. Dier also endured a shocker in the first 45 minutes, needlessly spurning possession on multiple occasions.

Ben Davies was the away side’s brightest spark in the first 45, the Welshman making two fair bone-crunching challenges to slightly sway the tide.

Next: When will Lucas Moura earn his debut?

Sánchez and Dier had games they’ll want to quickly forget, both usually reliable members of Mauricio Pochettino’s side enduring equally disastrous performances.

Spurs haven’t kept a clean sheet against a top-six side in 30 matches on their travels and have a single win to show from 21 against the élite six.

But the bottle and nerve Pochettino’s side showed to steal the draw is as important as the precious point they happily leave Anfield with.