By Adam Brown (@AdamMNVi)Liverpool head into Wednesday night level on points with Jose Mourinho’s Spurs, but the Reds will need to perform much better than last time out to top the Premier League come Christmas Day.Klopp’s side were overwhelmed by Fulham in the first half at Craven Cottage before Salah salvaged a point from the spot. The tone for the day was set before the game began with news that Diogo Jota was facing two months on the sidelines. While difficult to lose yet another important player, it’s an opportunity for Takumi Minamino to establish presence amongst the starting XI.Sadio Mane is due a big performance and will hopefully break his Premier League drought against Spurs; the Senegalese star hasn’t scored in the Premier League since October.
Here’s how we should line up: The strongest back five starts ready to deal with the threat of Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane. Referees will hopefully be more aware of the English striker’s antics in regards to backing into players who are airborne challenging for the ball – Liverpool’s injury list is long enough.Physios are working “pretty much 24-hours” according to Klopp to ensure Joel Matip is fit to start. Expect Nat Phillips to come in otherwise.Henderson should play in the six behind Wijnaldum and Curtis Jones. Naby Keita could feature but it’s unlikely to be from the start with the Reds manager stating that the Guinean needs to find some rhythm.Speaking on Keita’s injury, Klopp said: “Nobody is in doubt about Naby’s qualities, but when you are injured, you need to get a bit of luck and he didn’t have that luck.”The main front three start in a game where Liverpool’s top stars normally perform.Spurs present a difficult task but the key factor here will be the fans. The Reds looked unplayable against Wolves and a different Liverpool should turn up to the one we saw on the rainy Sunday evening in West London.Score prediction: Liverpool 2 – 0 Spurs