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| Son Heung-min challenges the 13th league gun against the shaking Liverpool. © AFP=News1 © |
Tottenham and Son Heung-min meet a rival who is running ahead in the competition for team performance and individual titles. The opponent’s recent pace is not very good. It’s a great opportunity to pull it down.
Tottenham invites Liverpool to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England at 5 am on the 29th (hereinafter referred to as Korean time), and has a home game of the 20th round of the 2020-21 English Premier League (hereinafter referred to as EPL).
Currently, Liverpool are ranked 5th with 9 wins, 7 draws, 3 losses and 34 points, while Tottenham, who played less than one game, is 6th with 9 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses. It is a big match that cannot be missed by both teams, which are slightly behind in the lead. The atmosphere is quite different these days. Tottenham are on the rise, and Liverpool are shaking quite badly.
Tottenham, who won 4-1 in the FA Cup 32nd round against the second division club Wickham on the 26th, is marching undefeated (6 wins, 2 draws) in 8 games across various competitions. However, it is regrettable that both draws came out of the Premier League. In particular, losing 1-1 with Club Fulham (18th place) at home on the 14th is a big loss. Even though they scored the opening goal, they did not win.
Still, the atmosphere is better than Liverpool. Defending champion Liverpool, who won the first division title in 30 years last season, showed a strong appearance in the early stages of this season as well, raising the possibility of losing a second straight victory, but has not been able to achieve a young win lately. A total of 1 win, 3 draw and 3 loss in 7 matches in various competitions. Liverpool is not doing anything like that.
One win is also weak. On the 9th, it was the FA Cup (4-1 win) against Aston Villa, and at that time, there were a number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) in Aston Villa, and there was a rapid situation in which a large number of youth team members participated. In particular, in the regular league, there are no wins in five games, and four of them are suffering from zero goals.
Liverpool scored a 7-0 win on December 19 last year by exploding a whopping 7 goals in their expedition to Crystal Palace. But unfortunately, after a great victory, the grades are not good.
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| Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah leads the league in scoring. But these days it’s not good. © AFP=News1 |
Liverpool, who drew 1-1 against West Bromwich Albion on December 28, ended in a 0-0 draw on their Newcastle expedition three days later. Liverpool, who lost 0-1 against Southampton on the 5th of the new year’s first game, were helpless with a 0-0 home game on the 18th against rival Manchester United.
They even lost 0-1 in the Burnley match held in Anfield, the home of the 22nd. It was the first time Liverpool lost their home game in 69 games after losing against Crystal Palace in 2017.
Liverpool lost 2-3 days after a sluggish match in the FA Cup against rival Manchester United on the 25th, three days later, and the atmosphere has settled a lot. For Tottenham, this is an opportunity to change the rankings.
The two teams had their first confrontation this season in December of last year, with Liverpool winning 2-1. Tottenham, who gave the opening goal to Salah in the 26th minute of the first half, was balanced with Son Heung-min’s equalizer 7 minutes later. This score continued throughout regular time, and for Tottenham, it seemed to be a meaningful victory point. However, in the extra time Liverpool corner kick situation, Pirminu was allowed to turn the goal and suffered a painful defeat. It’s revenge.
The confrontation between Salah and Son Heung-min, who are leading the EPL scoring race in front of each other, is also a point of watching. Salah is the sole leader with 13 goals, and Son Heung-min and Kane are tied for second with 12 goals side by side.
Along with the team’s sluggishness, Sala’s scorer is still quiet. Salah is unable to add goals after scoring multiple goals in Liverpool’s last league victory against Crystal Palace. I have been silent for more than a month. However, in the FA Cup against Manchester United on the 25th mentioned earlier, he was on the lookout because he saw a goal.
Son Heung-min, who made an assist in the last two games in a row, will challenge for the 17th goal in the season and the 13th in the regular league. Son Heung-min operated EPL 12 in the game against Leeds United on the 2nd and scored his 16th goal in the season in the League Cup semi-final against Brentford on the 6th.