Spurs hold off Reds’ charge

Tottenham 2 Liverpool 1

Both men in the dugouts had carved out reputations as thrusting young coaches at Chelsea under the Special One and Tottenham, having decided to jettison Harry Redknapp, had considered hiring Rodgers earlier this year before Liverpool did so.

A superior start was the basis of Tottenham’s success and Bale was central to all of it. The Welshman had already tested Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina with a free-kick and fired another chance across goal before he set up Aaron Lennon for a seventh-minute opener.

Bale’s charge down the left saw him get the better of four challengers and a ball to the back post presented Lennon with a simple tap-in. Liverpool replied with a couple of near misses, with Luis Suarez testing Hugo Lloris with a low drive before good fortune eluded Henderson twice in as many minutes.

Henderson was guilty of a glaring miss after Suarez had opened up a home defence in panic, with Kyle Walker nicking the ball away from the on-rushing Lloris. It went straight to Henderson, who put it wide of an empty net as Walker closed him down.

Two minutes later and it was 2-0 to Tottenham, courtesy of Bale direct from a free-kick.

The goal was an oddity in that it appeared not to have taken a particularly significant deflection off Henerson’s head in the wall yet possessed enough swerve to bamboozle Reina, who had moved to his left-hand post in anticipation of the ball ending up there.

Rodgers’ side’s response was to put the hosts under constant pressure until the half-time whistle and Tottenham were fortunate on a number of occasions not to concede, with Lloris making saves to deny Suarez and Jose Enrique, who was operating on the left of midfield.

The most significant moment saw Walker boot Suarez’s shot off the line moments after referee Phil Dowd had refused to award a penalty when Steven Gerrard went down in the box under Mousa Dembele’s challenge.

To their credit, Liverpool stuck at their task of taking the game to Tottenham as soon as the second-half resumed. Michael Dawson’s error allowed Enrique to steal in at the back post only for him to spoil it all with a wayward header and Raheem Sterling began to make his presence felt on the ball, which had rarely occurred in the first 45 minutes. The home fans were becoming frustrated, as was lone striker Jermain Defoe, who was not impressed with having to chase hoofs downfield. Defoe was even less impressed when, having finally been allowed a run at goal, team-mate Dempsey got in his way and ended up firing dismally wide.

It was time for changes, with the luckless Henderson hooked for Jonjo Shelvey and Dempsey replaced by another man who had chosen White Hart Lane over Anfield in the summer, Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Tottenham began to exert more on an influence in the final third but Walker had to be alert to deflect an Enrique effort round a post for a corner that found its way to Gerrard at the back post. Lloris was beaten but Lennon and Bale were well-placed to clear — and the former somehow managed to blast his clearance into his own net off Bale’s face.

Referee Dowd, who had earlier gone to ground in a collision with Suarez (the Uruguayan stayed up), then added insult to injury by booking Bale for a dive after Daniel Agger had appeared to have scythed him down.

Liverpool piled forward in search of an equaliser, with Suarez blasting over on the volley, but Tottenham hung on to end the visitors’ eight-game unbeaten run. But Tottenham will know they are fortunate to be just three points off third place and Liverpool undeserving of their lowly status as the Premier League’s 12th best team.

TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris 6; Walker 7, Gallas 7, Dawson 5, Vertonghen 6; Sandro 6, Dembele 7 (Huddlestone 88); Lennon 8, Dempsey 6 (Siggurdsson 64, 6), Bale 9; Defoe 6.

LIVERPOOL (4-2-3-1): Reina 6; Johnson 6, Skrtel 6, Agger 6, Downing 6 (Assaidi 78); Allen 6, Henderson 5 (Shelvey 63, 6); Sterling 7, Gerrard 7, Enrique 7; Suarez 7.

Referee: Phil Dowd.