Ekitike

Defending champions Liverpool win 2-1 at Tottenham to climb to fifth in the Premier League table.

Alexander Isak endured a bittersweet evening as the Liverpool striker scored before limping off injured in a chaotic 2-1 win over nine-man Tottenham.

Isak put Liverpool ahead in the second half in north London on Saturday after Tottenham’s Xavi Simons was sent off before the interval for a nasty lunge on Virgil van Dijk.

It was only Isak’s third goal in 16 games in all competitions since his British record 125-million-pound ($166m) move from Newcastle on transfer deadline day.

Yet in keeping with Isak’s troubled start to life with the Premier League champions, the 26-year-old was unable to fully enjoy his goal as he was forced to come off after being injured by Micky van de Ven’s failed attempt to stop him scoring.

Hugo Ekitike’s fifth goal in his last four appearances put Liverpool in command before Richarlison’s reply set up a tense finale that came to a head with Tottenham defender Romero’s dismissal in stoppage time.

Arne Slot’s side are up to fifth place in the Premier League after extending their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions, further distancing them from the miserable run of nine defeats in 12 that plunged them into crisis.

While Liverpool steadied the ship with a third successive win, Isak’s injury could not have come at a worse time following Mohamed Salah’s departure for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Slot claimed on Friday that Liverpool had “moved on” from the Salah controversy after his explosive interview two weeks ago in which he said he had been thrown under the bus by the club and no longer had a relationship with the Reds boss.

He was dropped from the squad for a Champions League game at Inter Milan but returned as a substitute in last week’s victory over Brighton.

The 33-year-old is now on international duty with Egypt for several weeks, making Isak’s injury an especially painful blow if he is ruled out for a prolonged period.

Slot will spend Christmas sweating on Isak’s fitness, and Tottenham manager Thomas Frank’s festive period will be even more fraught.

Last weekend’s limp 3-0 loss at Nottingham Forest sparked debate over the Dane’s future in his rocky first season in charge.

Tottenham are languishing in 13th place after winning just one of their last eight league games.

Ange Postecoglou was sacked despite winning the Europa League last season to end Tottenham’s 17-year trophy drought, and Frank is in danger of suffering the same fate as the Australian if results do not improve soon.

Simons left Tottenham with a mountain to climb in the 33rd minute when he raked his studs down Van Dijk’s calf with an ugly challenge from behind.

Initially booked for the foul, Simons was shown the red card after a VAR review.

Slot sent on Isak for the injured Conor Bradley at half-time and it took the Sweden striker just 11 minutes to make an impact as Liverpool broke the deadlock with a goal 300 million pounds ($399m) in the making.

All three of Liverpool’s costly close-season signings combined as Ekitike picked out Florian Wirtz, and he slipped a perfectly weighted pass to Isak, who timed his run to drill a clinical finish past Guglielmo Vicario from 10 yards.

Ekitike doubled Liverpool’s lead in the 66th minute.

Jeremie Frimpong’s deflected cross looped into the six-yard box, where Ekitike out-jumped Romero to thump his header into the top corner.

Richarlison reduced the deficit with a close-range blast after Reds captain van Dijk miscued a clearance in the 83rd minute.

But, with the visitors wobbling, Romero’s second booking for kicking Ibrahima Konate let Liverpool off the hook.

Hugo Ekitike

With Liverpool and Mohamed Salah appearing to be moving in different directions – and Salah heading to join his Egypt team-mates for the Africa Cup of Nations next week anyway – the Reds need other players to step up and fill the Salah-shaped hole in the scoring charts. In Hugo Ekitike, they may have found that man.

Ekitike is now Liverpool’s leading Premier League scorer with five goals, while in all competitions he also tops the charts with eight. On Saturday at Elland Road, the Frenchman scored the first double of his Liverpool career, and with the goals coming in the 48th and 50th minutes, he was the first Premier League player to score twice in the opening five minutes of the second half since Raheem Sterling in March 2019 for Manchester City against Watford.

He led all players in the match for shots (5), shots on target (3) and touches in the opposition box (9) and his only disappointment must have been the scoreline – he was the first Liverpool player to score two goals in a Premier League and not win since Salah last December in a 3-3 draw with Newcastle.

Rayan Cherki

Despite playing just 398 minutes in the Premier League this season, no player has more assists than Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki (5), with two of those coming in the 3-0 victory over Sunderland.

Cherki created six chances in open play, the joint most by a player in a Premier League game this season, while at 22 years and 111 days on Saturday he was the second-youngest Manchester City player to achieve that in a Premier League game, older only than – maybe surprisingly – Mario Balotelli in February 2012 against Blackburn Rovers.

Among players to play 300 minutes in the Premier League, no player has created more chances per 90 minutes than Cherki (3.4) and only four have had more touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes (7.7). The Frenchman is currently assisting a goal, on average, every 80 minutes – also a league best.

Bruno Guimaraes

Bruno Guimaraes has taken 10 corners in the Premier League this season and it is clear which one of those was most memorable – his in-swinging delivery on Saturday against Burnley caught his former team-mate Martin Dubravka out to give the Magpies the lead.

It was not the first Premier League goal direct from a corner (or ‘Olympico goal’ as it’s known) but it was Newcastle’s first ever corner to be put directly into the opponent’s goal in the Premier League, to give Guimaraes a slice of Magpies history. Given the term Olympico goal originates from South America, it seems apt that four of the past seven direct corner goals have been scored by players from that continent – all, in fact, from Brazil. Those scorers are Matheus Pereira, Douglas Luiz, Matheus Cunha and Guimaraes.

Aside from swinging corners directly into the net, Guimaraes has been in excellent recent form – he now has four goals and two assists across his past nine Premier League appearances, scoring five in total this season. Only in 2023-24 has he ever scored more in one season, netting seven times.