London, UK | THE INDEPENDENT | For the second home match running, Tottenham Hotspur secured a dramatic stoppage-time victory, this time beating nine-man Liverpool to go second in the table, a point behind Manchester City.
Two weeks after a goal in the 10th minute of stoppage time secured a 2-1 win over Sheffield United, an own goal from Joel Matip secured Spurs’ first league win over Liverpool in almost seven years.
Liverpool had been reduced to 10 men before the half-hour mark. Curtis Jones’ foul on Yves Bissouma was initially awarded a booking by Simon Hooper, but after a VAR review the card was upgraded to a red, Liverpool’s third of the season.
Despite the man disadvantage, Luis Diaz thought he had given Liverpool the lead, with Mohamed Salah setting the winger free, but his goal was ruled out for offside.
Only a minute later, in the 36th minute, Son Heung-min put Spurs 1-0 up, scoring for a fourth time in a row against Liverpool. Richarlison drove towards the byline before crossing to the South Korean to slot in for his sixth league goal of the season.
Deep into first-half stoppage time, Cody Gakpo grabbed an unlikely equaliser for Liverpool, twisting to finish powerfully past Guglielmo Vicario, but injuring himself in the process. Diaz even had an opportunity to give Liverpool the lead before half-time but could not get a touch on Salah’s wonderful pass.
After the break two brilliant saves from Alisson, including one from a Son volley, kept Liverpool in the match.
With Spurs well on top, Liverpool were reduced to nine men as Diogo Jota, who replaced Gakpo at half-time, picked up two yellow cards inside 90 seconds.
Spurs besieged the Liverpool goal but seemed to have run out of ideas as the match entered its sixth and final minute of stoppage time.
But with only 30 seconds remaining, Matip misjudged a Pedro Porro cross and deflected it into the roof of his own net.
Spurs now have 17 points and are one of only two unbeaten teams remaining in the Premier League this season, along with Arsenal.
Liverpool lose their 24-match unbeaten run and drop to fourth, with 16 points.
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SOURCE: Premier League
