The Round 17 Premier League fixture between Tottenham and Liverpool will take place on 20 December at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Tottenham vs Liverpool: prediction and betting odds, statistics.
Tottenham
The Londoners travelled to Nottingham in the last round and suffered a 0-3 defeat. It was their second heavy loss of the current campaign, and the club clearly looks to be in crisis, with just one win in their previous seven Premier League matches (two draws and four defeats). The team have conceded in six of their last seven league games. As a result of this poor run, Thomas Frank's side have dropped to 11th in the table and sit six points outside the Champions League places.
- At least three goals were scored in eight of Tottenham's last 10 league matches.
- Tottenham have won only one of their last seven home Premier League games (two draws and four defeats).
- The team failed to score more than one goal in eight of their last 11 home league matches.
Probable Tottenham lineup (4-2-3-1)
Guglielmo Vicario – Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Jed Spence – Rodrigo Bentancur, Archie Gray – Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo Muani – Richarlison.
Out through injury: defender Destiny Udogie, midfielder James Maddison, and forwards Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski. Midfielders Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are away with their national teams.
Liverpool
It is still early to say the crisis is over, but Liverpool are unbeaten in four successive Premier League matches. In that run they have recorded two draws and two 2-0 wins over West Ham and Brighton. They have not returned to the top four yet but are only two points off the Champions League places. The club's goal difference stands at just +2 — the last time Liverpool had such a low margin after 16 games was in 2015/16 (+1), a season in which they finished eighth and missed out on Europe.
- In their previous 11 Premier League matches the team have managed only three wins (two draws and six defeats).
- Exactly two or three goals were scored in six of Liverpool's last seven league games.
- Liverpool have failed to win five of their last six away league matches – one draw and four defeats.
Probable Liverpool lineup (4-5-1)
Alisson – Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, Miloš Kerkez – Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai, Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister – Hugo Ekitike.
Injured: Jeremy Frimpong, Wataru Endō and Cody Gakpo. Joe Gomez is also likely to miss out through injury. Mohamed Salah has travelled to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Referee:
John Brooks (England)
Matches – 5 (Premier League, 2025/26);
Yellow cards shown (including second yellows) – 16;
Average yellow cards per match – 3.2;
Red cards shown – 1;
Average fouls per match – 24;
Penalties – 60%.
Match prediction Tottenham – Liverpool
Both sides are clearly unhappy with their current league positions and will be fully focused on taking three points to keep their top-four ambitions alive. Both teams have attacking quality and score at similar rates — roughly 1.6 goals per game — while also conceding a fair number for sides aiming for Champions League spots (around 1.3 and 1.5 goals per game respectively).
Recent head-to-head meetings have been high-scoring. Both teams found the net in each of the last 10 encounters, and at least three goals were scored in six of the previous fixtures. Additionally, five of the last head-to-heads at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League produced three or more goals. I expect another entertaining, goal-filled game.
My prediction – Total over 2.5
* For each team the starting XI shown is the side's lineup from their previous match in this competition.
