The road to a championship is full of highs and lows. For long stretches of Liverpool’s win over Tottenham at Anfield on Sunday there were more of the latter than the former. Somehow, when two points looked lost, the Reds struck at the death to claim the win.

Joel Matip recently scored an own goal he could do little about, and neutrals will feel sorry for Toby Alderweireld here. The unfortunate Belgian scored the 10th opposition own goal of Jürgen Klopp’s time in charge of Liverpool, and the first which could be considered the winning goal. It also happened to be the 400th goal of the German’s tenure. Few of the previous 399 will have felt quite so important.

But the mistake which lead to it really lay in the hands of Hugo Lloris. The World Cup-winning goalkeeper spilled a relatively tame header from Mohamed Salah, which lead to Alderweireld prodding the ball home.

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Over the past three seasons, Jordan Pickford is the only player to make more Opta-defined errors which have lead to Premier League goals than Lloris has. Both men have made last minute Kop end clangers this season which could prove invaluable to the Reds’ title hopes.

Salah’s late header shouldn’t have troubled Tottenham’s number one, but it was symptomatic of Liverpool’s attacking play throughout the match. The Reds had six goal attempts from the centre of the penalty area – within the width of the six yard box, in other words – and aside from one blocked effort on the edge of the box the other five were all headers.

It’s not common for Liverpool to have so many headed efforts either. They’ve averaged 2.2 per match this season, the joint-seventh fewest in the Premier League. But it must be a case of quality over quantity, as Roberto Firmino’s opening goal here was the 12th headed league goal the Reds have netted in 2018/19. Only Spurs, with 14, have scored more.

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The goal was all down to the quality of the delivery from Andy Robertson. He and Firmino have struck up a potent little partnership on the quiet during this campaign.

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The cross lead to the fifth clear-cut chance which the Scottish left back has laid on for Bobby in 2018/19, and the third assist. Their link up also lead to Liverpool’s opening goal against Red Star, and their equaliser at Manchester City.

The combination of Salah passing to Mané is the only one which has generated more clear-cut chances and assists this season than the one which set the Reds on their way against Tottenham.

Another pass from Salah to Sadio might’ve been a better choice early in the second half when Liverpool had their one counter attack which lead to a shot. Unfortunately the Egyptian’s effort was easily blocked, when a pass to Mané appeared to be the better option.

A goal then would’ve almost certainly put the result to bed at a point when Tottenham were dominating. Having utilised three at the back during the first half, Mauricio Pochettino switched to a back four after the break, and his side began to dominate the ball.

In the opening 45 minutes, Liverpool had 56% of the possession. However, between half time and Spurs’ equaliser, the Reds had just 25%, and only completed 70% of their passes when they’ve been averaging 83% this season. The equalising goal required some quick thinking and a superb pass from Harry Kane, plus a little fortune in the penalty box, but there’s no doubt it was coming.

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As Liverpool then looked to find a winner, they returned to having 55% possession for the remainder of the match. It didn’t look as if the goal was going to come, but thankfully Lloris had other ideas.

It was a match which the numbers suggested should’ve been a draw. The Reds had three more shots than their visitors, lead both the shots on target and the shots in the box counts by just one, and each side had a single clear-cut chance. Lady luck was on hand to get Liverpool over the line though – can she do the same for the Premier League title?