Liverpool Visits Tottenham in Search of Goals, Points as Title Defense Hopes Fade

In fifth place at the halfway point of the season, Liverpool remains in the hunt for a second straight Premier League title. But the Reds will need to start winning – and scoring – soon, ideally in their Thursday visit to Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool hasn’t scored in more than four full EPL matches, its worst goalless streak in more than 20 years.

Scoreless Drought Plagues Liverpool

Liverpool managed just three draws and two losses over its last five matches. During that time, the defending champions have slipped from first to fifth in the Premier League. Once a favorite to win the league, FanDuel Sportsbook now rates the club as just a +850 pick to lift the trophy again, behind Manchester City (-270) and Manchester United (+650).

Undoubtedly, Liverpool has run into some bad luck: even with injuries or drops in form, its squad is simply too good to go five games without finding the net. Just before the streak began, the Reds scored seven times against Crystal Palace.

But the situation has changed in the past five weeks. Now, manager Jurgen Klopp must deal with a barrage of questions over what’s gone wrong with his team.

“We know exactly what we have to work on. If you are in a situation you don’t like, you want to get out of it,” Klopp told reporters after Liverpool’s 3-2 FA Cup loss to Manchester United on Sunday. “We want to get out of it and for that, we have to make steps. Tonight we made these steps. Not the final ones, but we made steps and that’s for the moment okay.”

Mourinho: Reds Know How to Win

Tottenham sits just one point behind Liverpool in the Premier League standings and holds a game in hand against most of the leaders. A home win would vault them past Liverpool and back into the mix at the top of the table. But while his team may relish this opportunity, manager Jose Mourinho isn’t buying that Liverpool won’t be a part of the title chase this season.

“When you win it once you know you have the team to win it twice,” Mourinho told reporters. “Would anyone expect Liverpool to have a similar run to last season when winning, winning, and winning nonstop? I would not expect that as what they did was so difficult. And to win it the second time in the same way is even more difficult. But to win the title again I think they believe they can, and I believe that it what they really want.”

Oddsmakers aren’t putting much stake into Liverpool’s recent poor form, either. The Reds come into Tottenham at +110 to finally nab a win, with Tottenham listed at +230.

Whether or not Liverpool finally snaps its winless streak on Thursday, Klopp insists he remains confident in his players to turn things around.

“There’s no doubt about my trust,” Klopp told reporters. “Trust doesn’t mean we are not critical of ourselves, but as a group, we are really together. If I have a problem, we have a problem. If one player has a problem, we have a problem. It’s all our problem at the moment, so we have to sort it out together and that’s what we will do.”