Liverpool look primed to give depleted Spurs defence another difficult night

Liverpool will look to respond to their Premier League setback against Manchester United with a resounding performance and victory when they visit Tottenham in the first leg of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday – with memories of last month's big win there still fresh in their minds memory.

The stats suggest the Reds will cause serious problems for Spurs' depleted backline, just as they did when they scored six goals in north London in December.

Liverpool may have a 2-2 draw against Manchester United on Sunday, but they showed another threatening attack, with 19 shots at Anfield.

Their expected goals total of 2.8 means they are averaging 2.36xG per game in the Premier League this season.

That is by far the most of all teams in the division.

It's so impressive that Jurgen Klopp has only surpassed that total once in an entire season during his time as manager.

It will be intriguing to see how Arne Slot shapes his team for this first leg, but he has a full range of attacking options to choose from.

The season's best striker, Mohamed Salah – who struck twice for Spurs in December – will no doubt do his utmost to play his part and add some extra something in what he believes will be his final year at the club. He started the 6-3 win at Spurs alongside the in-form Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, who also bagged a brace for Spurs.

The fit-again Diogo Jota will also battle with Darwin Nunez for involvement, while Federico Chiesa will be keen to make a late impact.

How Spurs' Ange Postecoglou would love to have such a selection headache.

His side's absentee list is in the double figures, but it is the defense where there is cause for concern ahead of this important cup tie.

They were down to the wire when Liverpool last came to town and the situation has worsened rather than eased since then.

Their 2-1 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday reflected their struggles at the back at the moment.

Stand-in goalkeeper Fraser Forster was knocked out by a bug, which also affected centre-backs Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin, who were forced off at half-time. Regular left back Destiny Udogie is still out with an injury and his replacement Djed Spence was later forced to come in as centre-back.

First-choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven remain sidelined and Ben Davies is still unavailable.

Newcastle took advantage. They scored twice from an xG total of 2.45.

That's the fifth time Spurs have allowed an opponent to exceed the 2xG mark this season. Every example has occurred in the last nine injury-plagued games.

Only rock-bottom Southampton have conceded more xG in the Premier League since November.

Goals conceded, goals conceded and xG conceded have all been on the agenda for Spurs in recent months as they struggle with their deficits.

The hope will be that Fraser, Dragusin and Gray shake off the illness that pushed them into that match. In midfield, Rodrigo Bentancur returns from suspension. But another humiliating defeat at the hands of a hungry Liverpool attack will be the fear for Spurs fans heading to the stadium on Wednesday night.

How Tottenham can hurt Liverpool…

And yet perhaps there is hope on the other side.

Spurs put three past Liverpool in the chaos of the pre-Christmas clash, although Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke's goals came late after James Maddison's first-half strike.

Slot told how United's transition play hurt his side at Anfield, just as Nottingham Forest and Fulham had done there.

Although Spurs won't sit back in the same way as the clubs when they challenge on Merseyside, Postecoglou's men rank third in the Premier League for direct attacks and fourth for direct speed on the pitch. It's that quick transition from back to front that is the Postecoglou way, and has been shown to unsettle Liverpool's backline this season.

Spurs don't play as many long balls per game as Fulham (49), United (49) and Forest (50), with an average of just 32 this season. So the question will be whether they can combine the required physicality and passing precision to break Liverpool on the counter, given their injury problems.

Certainly, Tottenham supporters will be hoping that, for the second time in the space of a week, an opponent can pull off an unexpected result against Slot's Liverpool side.

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