Tottenham 3-6 Liverpool: Premier League – as it happened

That’s all for today. Thanks for your company, and season’s greetings. See you on Boxing Day!

Liverpool’s record goalscorers

• 346 Ian Rush

• 285 Roger Hunt

• 241 Gordon Hodgson

• 229 Mo Salah

• 228 Billy Liddell

Mo Salah’s reaction

“Rob, could I send a message of consolation to my good pal Jamsie, from Dublin, now living in London,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “He couldn’t get home for Christmas with some ferry strike, and he’s worried about the Guinness shortage in the capital, naturally. And, yes, to complete his seasonal misery, he’s a Spurs fan. Keep the faith, Jamsie.”

I might start charging for these shout-outs in 2025.

“I heard that someone asked Jürgen Klopp before the match if he thought his successor would oversee a goal fest,” says Peter Oh. “His answer? ‘Nein’.”

I had no idea that Peter Oh was actually Barry Davies.

The Premier League table (Christmas 2024)

Full time: Tottenham 3-6 Liverpool

90+2 min Bergvall, on a yellow card, kicks the ball away but escapes punishment. Arsenal fans will have loved that.

90 min Five minutes of added time, which should be enough for at least a couple more goals.

89 min “Are you getting the same feed as me?” says Paul Griffin. “On mine Darren England has chalked off a few and Spurs are 3-0 up.”

87 min Now Alisson makes a fine save, low to his right, to deny Brennan Johnson. This game is absurd.

87 min: Double substitution for Liverpool Nunez and Elliott replace Salah and Diaz.

GOAL! Tottenham 3-6 Liverpool (Diaz 85)

84 min Diaz’s shot is saved by Forster, then Jota heads Alexander-Arnold’s cross wide. What a bizarre game. When Salah made it 5-1 I thought Liverpool might score 10.

Bergvall’s chipped cross from the left is headed back across goal by Johnson, allowing Solanke to pull away from Van Dijk and stretch to drag a smart finish past Alisson.

GOAL! Tottenham 3-5 Liverpool (Solanke 83)

82 min: Spurs substitution Timo Werner comes on for Son Heung-min, who had a very poor game by his standards.

81 min Alexander-Arnold’s deflected cross is beaten round the near post by Forster, who has conceded five while also making some pretty good saves.

80 min Another wicked cross from Alexander-Arnold is headed wide by Szoboszlai at the far post. That time the ball had a bit too much pace on it for Szoboszlai to get the header on target.

79 min Bergvall is booked for tripping Jota.

79 min These teams play next on Boxing Day. Spurs go to Nottingham Forest, Liverpool host Leicester.

76 min: Chance for Diaz! Saying which, Liverpool almost make it six with another devastating counter-attack. Salah half-volleys a marvellous pass over the defence to put Diaz through on goal, with Forster in no man’s land. Diaz flips the ball over Forster – and the crossbar, just. It landed on the roof of the net.

75 min Tottenham are having a decent spell now. It helps that Liverpool are conserving energy for the busy Christmas period; even so, the response of a few Spurs players, particularly Kulusevski and Solanke, has been pretty admirable in the circumstances.

74 min “The accountants would tell you that Liverpool got Trent on a free and they’ve first dibs on him on another free in January,” says Gary Naylor. “Of course, his wage demands will be eye-watering, but in what world would you let him go? To say nothing of the impact of a local lad as captain will have on the city – even Bluenoses see that.”

I get the impression it’s not about money, in which there’s not much Liverpool can do.

GOAL! Tottenham 2-5 Liverpool (Kulusevski 72)

70 min “If, and I cannot stress the word ‘if’ enough, Liverpool do win the league this season, this performance has shades of the 4-0 away at Leicester in the 2019-20 title-winning season when it seemed, ‘Yep, this is definitely on’,” says Graeme Neill. “(It was Boxing Day though, rather than ahead of Christmas.)”

I guess that shows how (understandably) nervous Liverpool supporters were about jinxing it because the rest of us knew you’d won the league when you hammered Man City in mid-November. That Leicester game felt more like confirmation that you were among the greatest teams in Premier League history.

I’m not sure Liverpool get enough credit for their performance that season, actually. At one stage they had 79 points from 27 games, which is obscene.

68 min: Double substitution Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones, sent off in this game last season, come on to replace Mac Allister and Gakpo.

68 min Spurs have to play Liverpool twice in the Carabao Cup semi-final as well.

67 min Kuluseveski is still playing as if it’s 1-1, not 1-5, and creates enough room for a cross-shot that is turned behind by Alexander-Arnold.

66 min Gomez makes an excellent challenge to deny Solanke a clear goalscoring opportunity after Kuluseveki’s cross ricocheted off a couple of players.

65 min “Spurs fans should look on the bright side,” syas Peter Oh. “For the first time in one match it isn’t Fraser Forster’s feet that are main talking point.”

64 min Diaz’s volley into the ground is saved by Forster.

63 min: Fine save by Forster! Alexander-Arnold whacks a mighty dipping shot from 25 yards that is pawed away by Forster, diving a long way to his right. It’s no exaggeration to say that Liverpool could score 10 here.

63 min Even as a neutral, this is pretty hard to watch. You have to admire Liverpool’s ruthlessness, not to mention their brilliance, but it’s never nice to see a team – and a manager – humiliated like this.

Spurs’ heads have gone. Gakpo played a crisp pass infield that was taken beautifully on the run by Szoboszlai. That touch put him through on Forster – but this time he squared the ball to give Salah an open goal.

GOAL! Tottenham 1-5 Liverpool (Salah 60)

60 min Before the game, Arne Slot said Liverpool would need to pick the right moments to play through the Spurs press – “or over”. Their willingness to mix play up has been a big part of today’s romp.

58 min: Double substitution for Spurs Lucas Bergvall and Brennan Johnson replace James Maddison and Pape Sarr.

57 min: Great chance for Szoboszlai! This is getting really ugly. Alisson drives a long pass straight through the heart of the Spurs defence to put Szoboszlai clear. He goes round Forster but is forced slightly wide and screws his shot the wrong side of the near post.

56 min Teams often declare when they get three or four goals ahead, especially during a busy period. The worry for Spurs is that Liverpool look like they want a whole lot more.

Kulusevski was really well tackled by Robertson on the edge of the area and Liverpool were off on their merry way. Mac Allister fired an excellent pass into Gakpo, who made ground and gave the ball to Diaz. He returned it to Gakpo, whose low cross was half cut out by the sliding Gray in the six-yard box. Gray also blocked Szoboszlai’s follow-up shot but Salah gobbled up the loose ball from four yards.

GOAL! Tottenham 1-4 Liverpool (Salah 54)