When Raheem Sterling scored Liverpool’s fifth goal of the afternoon the composed finish from the Liverpool youngster only served to confirm what had been apparent for sometime; today Liverpool were operating on an entirely different plane to Tottenham. The late flurry of goals – from Flanagan, Sterling and Suarez – was little more than a continuation of what had come before, exaggerated by the dismissal of Tottenham’s Paulinho shortly after an hour of play. That this was done without Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge provides positive answers a large swathe of the queries regarding squad depth and the team's ability to sustain good form as the season's toll chips away at the playing pool.
Luis Suarez scored the opening goal on 18 minutes, with some tidy footwork helping him skip past a challenge and finish expertly into the far corner. The goal was well deserved following a sustained onslaught on the Spurs goal throughout the opening 15 minutes.
Liverpool had been relentless before the goal and that level of play wouldn’t drop for the remainder of the game. Spurs failed to register a single shot on target while Liverpool had 9 corners and 20 attempts on goal. Had this game ended 7-0 it would have been hard to claim Spurs deserved a lot more.
Henderson, the eventual man of the match, scored the second goal on 40 minutes following several saves from Hugo Lloris keeping both Henderson and Suarez at bay until eventually the ball dropped to Henderson who slotted it low and home to double the advantage before the break.
When the first half ended Liverpool had been the better side but Spurs had not yet looked outclassed. In the second half Liverpool played so well, and Tottenham so poorly, that the sides looked like an early rounds FA Cup mismatch.
Liverpool’s dominance was evident when Paulinho was sent off on 63 minutes. The Brazilian stuck out a boot and caught Luis Suarez in the chest. Replays showed Paulinho seemingly redirect his boot to catch the Uruguayan.
It took until the 75th minute until Liverpool added a third. Jon Flanagan scored his first ever senior club goal with a top corner finish. Suarez was provider, crossing into the box where Flanagan did well to keep a bouncing ball down as he drilled it in off the underside of the crossbar.
Suarez got his second with a placed shot from the edge of the area and Raheem Sterling added the fifth when he was beneficiary of a Luis Suarez through ball and slid the ball low and to the left of Lloris. At that stage Liverpool was cruising and when Victor Moses crossed across the goalmouth in the 93rd minute Jordan Henderson was only 2 feet away from making it 6. By that stage it felt effortless.
The win moves Liverpool to second in the Premier League table, 2 points behind Arsenal.
Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
