Spurs ready to be number one

Tottenham 2 Liverpool 1

Maybe it’s all those trophies Liverpool won in the 1970s and 80s, using up their luck and good fortune in the process, but you get a terrible sensation right now that Roy Hodgson’s men are doomed to failure.

How else do you explain the sight of captain Jamie Carragher traipsing off with a shoulder injury after putting in a mammoth performance at White Hart Lane — joining fellow club talisman Steven Gerrard on the sidelines where Fernando Torres has been slumped for so long?