Tottenham dent Liverpool's title hopes

Tottenham 1, Liverpool 0 (full-time)

Gus Poyet put a huge dent in Liverpool’s title hopes by firing Spurs ahead with a goal that eventually won the game at White Hart Lane.

Darren Anderton’s deep cross from the left was knocked back across the face of goal by Simon Davies, and Poyet tucked it inside Jerzey Dudek’s left-hand post.

Liverpool had been on top but could not find a way past Tottenham’s dogged defence.

Skipper Sami Hyppia had their best chance from Danny Murphy’s eighth-minute free kick, but his powerful header was beaten away by goalkeeper Kasey Keller.

Liverpool needed some good defending after 28 minutes to deny Spurs an opener.

Darren Anderton, still hoping to impress Eriksson, found Poyet in the box and Xavier made a good interception. Taricco picked up the loose ball and his dangerous ball across the face of goal was cleared by Hyypia.

It was a fast-flowing, entertaining game, with Liverpool edging the midfield battle, but both defences on top. The Reds have not conceded in the league for more than six hours, and it was easy to see why.

Spurs, on the other hand, have kept one clean sheet in their last 12, but were holding up well even without injured central defenders Ledley King and Dean Richards.

Keller came to the rescue again for Spurs after 31 minutes by pushing away a low drive from the impressive Murphy.

The game tapered off until the 40th minute when Taricco did well on the left and found Poyet with his cross into the box, but his low drive flashed just past the far post.

However, Poyet was celebrating seconds later when he fired Spurs into the lead.

Anderton’s deep cross from the left was knocked back by Davies, and Poyet tucked it inside Dudek’s near post to send the home fans wild and put a dent in Liverpool’s title hopes.

Liverpool were stunned, and were nearly caught again in injury time when Iversen sent a header into the body of Dudek.

Tottenham fans probably did not know whether to laugh or cry with their team ahead.

On the one hand, they were enjoying seeing Spurs ahead in their final home game of the season against one of the top teams in Europe.

But on the other, a defeat for Liverpool would surely help hand the title to north London rivals Arsenal.

They might have been two ahead when Clemence made a good run into the box, beating three players along the way, but shot tamely at Dudek.

A minute later Sheringham disappointed again by glancing another header wide from Taricco’s cross.

There was a magical moment from Owen after 53 minutes when he slipped the ball between two defenders to create a shooting chance, but Clemence got back well to cover. The new England captain then fired the rebound wide of the far post.

Liverpool introduced Nicolas Anelka for Emile Heskey and Jari Litnamen for Danny Murphy and the Merseysiders began to enjoy their best spell of the game, but Spurs held on for the win and to deny Liverpool three valuable points.