Liverpool vs Tottenham Prediction: Reds can edge Anfield thriller

Tottenham Hotspur represent Jurgen Klopp's penultimate opponents at Anfield on Sunday (16:30, Sky Sports Main Event) before the German leaves Liverpool this summer, but the north London side are in no mood to be sentimental as they hunt a top-four finish in the Premier League.

Read below for my Liverpool vs Tottenham prediction, where you can also find all the latest team news and match odds, as Klopp faces Spurs for the final time as Reds boss.

Liverpool picked up just one point from two Premier League contests last week, losing 2-0 at Everton in the Merseyside derby before drawing 2-2 in east London against West Ham. The Reds are now destined to finish third but will want to end the season on a high to give Klopp the send-off he deserves.

Tottenham are in poor form themselves having lost their last three in pretty humiliating fashion as they were thrashed 4-0 at Newcastle United and beaten 3-2 at home by north London rivals Arsenal, who raced into a 3-0 lead within 40 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Sunday, before losing 2-0 with a whimper at Chelsea on Thursday.

Spurs are now seven points behind Aston Villa in the race for Champions League qualification, but Ange Postecoglou's side do have a game in hand on Unai Emery's charges, who also have a European semi-final tie to contend with.

Team News

Diogo Jota and Conor Bradley are nearing a return to the Liverpool squad after missing recent games through injury, but it remains to be seen whether Sunday's match comes too soon.

Changes are expected to the starting XI from the one that began last week's draw at the London Stadium, however, with Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez all looking to earn recalls.

Jurgen Klopp has also stated in his pre-match press conference that Virgil van Dijk hasn't trained all week, which makes him a doubt for Sunday.

Destiny Udogie was recently ruled out for the remainder of the season by Spurs, who have this week been dealt a further blow in the left-back department with the news that Ben Davies will join the Italian on the sidelines.

With Ryan Sessegnon also still out injured, Postecoglou is presented with a dilemma in that area of the pitch. A possible solution could be to play Emerson Royal there or to shift across Micky van de Ven from his central position and hand a start to January signing Radu Dragusin.

The Romanian's fellow mid-season arrival, Timo Werner, however, has also been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign after sustaining an injury against Arsenal.

Richarlison and Pape Matar Sarr could start on Sunday after substitute outings last weekend.

Match Odds

Liverpool are 4/9 to exact revenge for their controversial 2-1 defeat to Spurs earlier in the season, giving them an implied win probability of 69.2%, while the visitors can be backed at 4/1 (20%) to do the double over the opponents.

The draw, meanwhile, is available at 18/5, and Salah is 3/1 to open the scoring.

Liverpool to win & over 3.5 goals @ 13/10

A tough one to predict on Sunday as two out-of-form sides meet at Anfield. One thing that should be guaranteed, though, is goals - only Arsenal (85) and Manchester City (82) have struck more times than Liverpool (77) in the Premier League this term, while there are, on average, 3.56 goals in games involving Spurs.

The corresponding fixture between these sides last season saw Liverpool edge a seven-goal thriller as Spurs came back from three goals down to level late on, before falling to a 94th-minute Jota strike.

There have been at least four goals scored in three of Spurs' last four games, two of which they have lost, while four of Liverpool's last six in the league have seen over 3.5 goals, with the Reds emerging victorious in a couple of them.

Ultimately, I think home advantage will play its part here and drag Klopp's side to victory. Time is running out on the German's tenure at Anfield, and everyone of a red persuasion will be desperate to ensure there is not a flat finish to his reign.

Liverpool's last game at Anfield didn't go to plan as they lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace, but we should forget that they have still taken more points (42) at home than any other side in the Premier League this season.

Virgil van Dijk anytime scorer @ 11/2

Given Jurgen Klopp's comments about Virgil van Dijk and the fact that the Dutchman hasn't trained all week, I've selected this tip assuming that he's going to play.

Two of Arsenal's goals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend came from corners, and that's an area Liverpool will surely target this weekend.

On average, Liverpool win 7.57 corners per game in the Premier League, second only to Manchester City (7.59), and if they rack up somewhere near that count on Sunday, Reds skipper Van Dijk will fancy his chances of unsettling the Spurs defence in a similar way to that of Kai Havertz and co last weekend.

The Dutchman has scored four times for his club side this season, two of them arriving in the league, and averages 1.2 shots per game in the competition.

Van Dijk registered two shot attempts at West Ham last weekend and three at Goodison Park three days prior, while his last match at Anfield saw him take four shots at the Palace goal.

He might just strike it lucky on Sunday against a Spurs side with clear deficiencies in defence, particularly at set-pieces.

Betfred are running their famed Double Delight & Hat-trick Heaven offer on this match, meaning that if a player scores first and then nets again, you will be paid at double the odds. If he grabs a hat-trick, you will be paid at treble the odds!

Check out the rest of our Football Betting Tips here.