Liverpool eye top five as Lloris costs Spurs

Liverpool 3 Tottenham 2

Anfield roared its approval as Stewart Downing and skipper Steven Gerrard, with a late spot kick won by — who else? — Luis Suarez, gave Liverpool the points that seemed to have been ripped from their grasp by that outstanding raider Jan Vertonghen.

Yet manager Rodgers tried to play down one of the most important victories of his short reign as the fans sense a late surge for Europe, clearly keen to keep a lid on expectations while his buoyant side prepare to try and catch fifth-placed Arsenal.

The Anfield boss insisted: “I’m not thinking of Europe. We know where we want to be, and we want to be challenging at the top end, but we’ll just keep looking at the next game.

“We are at the business end of the season, it’s the time to win games and narrow your focus on that. So we’ll focus on Saturday. We’ll keep collecting points and see where that takes us.”

Yet with a trip to strugglers Southampton next up on Saturday, he is fully aware that, having toppled the third-place Champions League hopefuls Spurs, his team face only two more opponents of genuine substance, Chelsea and Everton, both at home, on a run-in that his rivals will envy.

Andre Villas-Boas found it all hard to take, especially as his side — with Vertonghen and Mousa Dembele giving magnificent performances — dominated the second half until keeper Hugo Lloris failed to deal with Kyle Walker’s inexplicable backpass that allowed Downing to make it 2-2.

The Spurs manager said: “We have to put that setback behind us and go forward. We were in control, and it was our mistakes, rather than Liverpool’s merits, that changed the game. Gylfi Sigurdsson hitting the post was a turning point, and it was a difficult result to take.”

With all eyes on Footballer of the Year candidates Suarez and Gareth Bale, it was inevitable one of them would open the scoring. Cue Suarez after 20 minutes.

The goal, his 29th of the season and 22nd in the Premier League, was fashioned by a smart exchange of passes between Philippe Coutinho and Jose Enrique down the left.

Enrique’s final pass to Suarez, as the Uruguayan sped in behind Tottenham’s defence, allowed Liverpool’s leading scorer to flick the ball past Lloris at the near post with the outside of his right boot.

Bale was hurt in an aerial challenge with Gerrard and needed treatment before continuing, but the Wales star stepped back on to provide the far-post cross for centre-half Vertonghen to head Tottenham level on the stroke of half time.

The former Ajax captain struck again on 53 minutes to put the visitors ahead.

Bale flighted a free-kick from the right and although Jamie Carragher won the header, the ball was not cleared and the alert Vertonghen deftly lashed a shot into the bottom corner.

Then with Liverpool in some disarray at the back, Tottenham almost snatched a third goal when Sigurdsson, unmarked, had his angled shot deflected on to a post by Glen Johnson.

However, the visitors offered Liverpool an unexpected lifeline on 65 minutes that was gratefully accepted.

Walker played a needless long backpass that Lloris came out of his area to clear but missed, leaving winger Downing to equalise through the legs of the covering Vertonghen on the line.

The goal seemed to galvanise Liverpool, but it was not until the 82nd minute, when Spurs striker Jermain Defoe played a ball back into his penalty area and full-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto bundled over Suarez in untidy fashion, that the points were secured by Gerrard’s confident spot kick.

LIVERPOOL: Jones (6); Johnson (5), Agger (5), Carragher (6), Enrique (7); Lucas (6), Gerrard (6); Downing (6), Sturridge (6) (Henderson 87), Coutinho (6) (Allen 58, 6); Suarez (8).

TOTTENHAM: Lloris (5): Walker (5), Vertonghen (8), Dawson (7), Assou-Ekotto (6) (Carroll 90); Livermore (6) (Holtby 84), Parker (6); Dembele (8), Sigurdsson (6), Bale (7); Defoe (6).

Referee: M Oliver 7.