Antonio Conte is fully aware of the task ahead of Tottenham Hotspur in Saturday’s late Premier League kick off but he feels that playing Liverpool offers his players the chance to show their qualities (Liverpool 2/5, Draw 19/5, Spurs 6/1 – Match Betting).
Much of the build-up to this contest has centred on the Reds’ ongoing bid for an unprecedented quadruple and the chance for them to put the pressure on Premier League title rivals Manchester City, who are not in action until Sunday afternoon (City 4/9, Liverpool 15/8 – PL Outright).
However, the match also holds great significance for Spurs who are involved in a top-four battle with arch-rivals Arsenal, with the Gunners holding a two-point advantage going into the final four games (Arsenal 2/5, Spurs 6/4 Top 4 Finish).
Conte’s men are perhaps not in the best of form as they head to Anfield, having failed to register a single shot on target in recent games against Brighton (lost 1-0 at home) and Brentford (0-0 away), but Conte believes his players are better suited to playing against the more expansive teams, as demonstrated by their 3-1 home win over Leicester City last time out.
“For sure when you play against a team that likes to play face to face, maybe for the characteristics of my players it’s better rather than against a team we don’t find much space to exploit,” Conte said.
“Also against Leicester the same, a team that play face to face. Attack and attack.”
Tottenham have shown that they can mix it with the big boys in the Premier League when they are on song, having done Liverpool a favour by beating Manchester City both home and away this season, while they held the Reds to a 2-2 draw in the reverse league fixture back in December.
However, the form is very much with Liverpool on the head-to-head front as that draw ended a seven-match winning streak for the Reds, with Spurs last beating the Merseysiders in 2017, while they have not won at Anfield since 2011.
As a sub-plot, Saturday’s showdown also pits the top two in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (22) holding a three-goal advantage over Tottenham’s Son Heung-Min (19) going into the final four games of the season (Salah 1/25, Son 8/1 – PL Top Goalscorer).
