Liverpool vs. Tottenham Hotspur Preview: The story has been written

The hunt for the Champions League is essentially settled, so Tottenham Hotspur is mostly just playing for pride now. Technically there is a defense of fifth place with Manchester United and Newcastle creeping up the table — and the Manchester City tie has some importance for Spurs for some less pure reasons — but really the final four matches are basically academic.

Unfortunately, one of the contests remaining is a trip to Anfield, a place where Tottenham is 0-3-8 over the past 11 fixtures. While Liverpool is struggling itself, it is hard to feel confident in the visitors mustering any sort of point. On the bright side, at least this match does not count for much, though it still would not feel great to see yet another defeat against a top opponent down the stretch.

Liverpool (3rd, 75pts) vs. Tottenham Hotspur (5th, 60pts)

Date: Sunday, May 5
Time: 11:30 am ET, 4:30 pm UK
Location: Anfield, Liverpool
TV: Peacock Premium (USA), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)

Jurgen Klopp’s final season is ending terribly, with Liverpool crashing out of Europe and slipping out of the Premier League title race. The past five matches have been awfully similar to Spurs, winning just once while drawing twice and losing twice, all against objectively lesser competition.

Despite the one-sided nature of this matchup over the past decade, Spurs did win the reverse fixture in dramatic fashion. Heung-Min Son opened the scoring after a first-half red card, and a Joel Matip own goal sealed the win at the death after Liverpool went down to nine men. Of course, the infamous “check complete/good process” fiasco is what will keep the legend of this affair alive.

Lessons to learn

While Ange Postecoglou has trouble admitting it, the set piece defending has gone from annoying to all-out alarming. There is no excuse for a club of this size to struggle so badly at a concept so straightforward, and the manager’s apparent reluctance to address the issue is quite concerning. If the manner of the losses to Arsenal and Chelsea do not make this problem clear, I am not sure what will.

Liverpool lead the league in xG and have plenty of their own set piece goals this season. Given the current state of the Tottenham defense, it would be no surprise to see this play out in a critical way again on Sunday. There needs to be a club-wide acknowledgement of this issue, whether that is verbal or clear from obvious changes made on the pitch in these situations.

The missing piece

Spurs clearly need to make some improvements this summer, and that starts with figuring out how this team wants to attack. Progressing the ball up the pitch has been inconsistent, but the real problem is every time the ball gets near the penalty box; players stop moving, crosses are hit wildly, and there is just not sort of cohesion or urgency.

The last four matches are a great opportunities for players like Richarlison, Brennan Johnson, and Dejan Kulusevski to prove they belong in the lineup. While Son and James Maddison do not seem to be operating at 100 percent, these other attackers can pick up the slack and show their quality and fit in this squad. A rough run-in, however, leaves a bad taste in the decision makers’ mouths as we head into a summer that will certainly see some real changes.