Overview
Not long ago, Arne Slot was the most pressured coach in the Premier League. But now, that name seems to have shifted to Thomas Frank, and therefore the upcoming confrontation between Tottenham and Liverpool has special meaning for both.
Although this is the first time Frank has led Spurs against Liverpool, Tottenham's record against the defending champions is not very promising. Slot's side have won both Premier League meetings last season with strong scores of 6-3 and 5-1.
In the history of the tournament, only Liverpool have scored 5 or more goals in 3 consecutive matches against the same opponent, which was against Norwich from September 2012 to December 2013.
Even without creating a rain of goals, Liverpool rarely failed to score against Tottenham. The Reds have scored in 25 of the last 26 encounters between the two teams in the Premier League, including the current streak of 19 consecutive matches. Their only longer scoring streak in the tournament was against Arsenal (20 consecutive matches).
It is no surprise that matches between Liverpool and Tottenham often have many goals. This is the match with the most goals in Premier League history with a total of 206 goals. The last three encounters in the tournament have seen 21 goals scored, and at least 3 have appeared in 14 of the last 16 encounters.
That trend is likely to continue. Of the teams that have been present continuously in the last two Premier League seasons, only Bournemouth 16. have conceded two or more goals away from home than Liverpool (15). In their last 17 away games, Liverpool have either kept a clean sheet (6 games) or conceded two or more goals (11 games).
Tottenham kept a clean sheet against Brentford in their most recent home match in the Premier League, but their defense is still a big concern. Spurs have lost four league games in 2025 by a margin of three goals or more, including a recent 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest. Only in 1997 (5 matches) and 2014 (6 matches) have they lost more matches with a larger gap in a calendar year.
However, three of those four heavy defeats came away from home, making Liverpool's chances of a big win this time less certain. However, Spurs have also lost 10 Premier League home games in 2025 - their highest tally in a single year, equal to 1994 and 2003.
Personnel will play a key role, as both coaches have to deal with the broken squad. Tottenham could be without up to eight players. Most notably, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and destiny Udogie are injured, while Pape Sarr is on duty at AFCON.
Liverpool could not help but face the same difficulties. Mohamed Salah is absent due to AFCON - which could be seen as a "hadness in luck" for Slot given the recent upheavals surrounding the Egyptian striker.
Head-to-head record
It will be difficult to find many one-sided confrontations between big teams in Europe's top leagues like this pair in recent years.
Tottenham have won just two of their last 25 Premier League meetings with Liverpool (losing 17. Those two rare victories took place at home in October 2017 (4-1) and September 2023 (2-1).
Notably, the victory in 2023 came in the context of fierce controversy. Liverpool were denied a valid goal by Luis Diaz. Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota received red cards, before Joel Matip came home in injury time.
In the previous Premier League season, the difference was even more clearly exposed. Liverpool scored 11 goals in two matches, launched a total of 49 shots and won 6-3 and 5-1 against Tottenham's loose defense.
Score prediction: Tottenham 1-3 Liverpool
The match between Tottenham and Liverpool takes place at 0:30 am on December 21 (Vietnam time).
