LIVERPOOL: Jurgen Klopp will have to wait to celebrate his 50th victory in the Premier League after third-placed Liverpool were held 2-2 by Tottenham after a dramatic finale at Anfield.
Two-goal Mo Salah was the hero for Liverpool and Harry Kane for Spurs for striking the stoppage-time second equaliser after having an earlier kick saved by keeper Loris Karius.
After successive defeats to Swansea in the league and to West Bromwich in the FA Cup, Liverpool had recovered with a midweek victory over Huddersfield to pull up within six points of second-placed Manchester United with this game in hand.
Tottenham turned up at Anfield with their own confidence having been buoyed by an impressive 2:0 home win over Manchester United in midweek and Kane established as the league’s leading marksman with 21 goals, two more than Liverpool’s Salah.
The Egyptian took his total to 20, in only 25 games, in only the third minute after seizing on a misjudged back pass from England midfielder Eric Dier. Spurs paid a heavy price for their loyalty to the high back line which manager Mauricio Pochettino prefers.
James Milner was within inches of a second goal in the 17th minute of a first half which was fast and furious and, as such, littered with passing mistakes by both teams.
Liverpool are far more comfortable with such football and thus always looked likely to score again. Virgil Van Dijk advanced from defence and had a header saved by the diving Hugo Lloris.
Spurs did not produce a worthwhile effort until the 39th minute when Loris Karius made an excellent diving save of his own to a 25m drive from Mousa Dembele.
Karius kept Liverpool ahead with another fine save from Son Heung-min early in the second half which saw Tottenham raise their game and fully deserve a magnificent equaliser from newly-arrived substitute Victor Wanyama with 10 minutes remaining.
Liverpool might even have lost it but, with four minutes remaining, Karius saved a penalty from Harry Kane after the keeper had tripped the England centre-forward.
Salah put Liverpool back ahead on the break away but then Van Dijk brought down Eric Lamela and this time Kane made no mistake to collect his 100th league goal.
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