LONDON: Tottenham swept to their biggest Premier League win over Liverpool in 48 years as Luka Modric inspired the hosts to a 4-0 victory over the nine-man visitors.
Modric opened the scoring with a stunning strike early in the first half and the Croatian midfielder pulled the strings for the rest of the game as shambolic Liverpool imploded in spectacular fashion.
Charlie Adam and Martin Skrtel were sent off either side of half-time and Spurs took full advantage as Jermain Defoe increased their lead before Emmanuel Adebayor netted twice.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish, who has been upset with refereeing decisions this season insisted that he did not want to take anything away from Tottenham’s performance by blaming the refereeing.
“I think we should just talk about the football,” he said. “It would be totally unfair on Harry Redknapp and the performance his team put on today so we’ll be respectful to Tottenham. We know that we can do a lot better than that.”
Tottenham manager Redknapp was delighted at his team’s dominant display.
“We absolutely dominated,” he said. “If you can’t enjoy the football we played here today then there’s something wrong with you. We were by far the better team.”
Dominant show by Spurs
Spurs were looking for their fifth straight home win over Liverpool and dominated from kick-off. A long passing move resulted in Gareth Bale crossing for Defoe and the striker getting tackled on the edge of the area by Jose Enrique. The ball fell to Modric and he did not break stride as he powered his finish into the top corner.
It got worse for Liverpool when Adam received two bookings in the space of 16 minutes. Skrtel and Sebastian Coates were booked for halting swift Spurs attacks, while Suarez received a yellow card for sarcastically clapping an offside decision.
Defoe piled on the misery for Liverpool a clinical strike in the 66th minute. The third goal came when Adebayor chipped over the goal-keeper before stroking the ball into an empty net. There was still time for Adebayor to score in the dying moments with a half-volley from close range.
Fulham fightback frustrates City
Meanwhile, Manchester City dropped their first Premier League points after squandering a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Fulham. Roberto Mancini’s side appeared on course for victory when Sergio Aguero struck twice inside 46 minutes to take his personal tally to eight goals.
But Fulham staged a stirring fightback to recover through goals from Bobby Zamora and Danny Murphy to claim their third point of the season.
Elsewhere, Sunderland secured their first win of the season with an impressive 4-0 demolition of Stoke City.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ