The two form sides in the division served up an entertaining contest which could have gone either way, but ended with a slender Liverpool victory that means just three points separate third place from seventh.
Daniel Sturridge, starting his first game since August 31 which was also against Tottenham, tested Hugo Lloris twice in the opening quarter of an hour, and he had a hand in the opener shortly after. Lazar Markovic raced through on goal and saw his scuffed strike take a bobble and squirm beyond the keeper and into the corner.
But there's no stopping Harry Kane right now and Spurs equalised after 26 minutes. The visitors worked the ball from back to front, with Erik Lamela setting up Kane to spank the Londoners level.
Steven Gerrard's spot-kick in Liverpool's August win at White Hart Lane was the Reds' 10th successful Premier League spot-kick against Spurs; taking them clear of Manchester City (vs Aston Villa) as the team with the most penalties against a single opponent. And the Anfield skipper was able to extend that record in the 53rd minute after Sturridge danced into the danger zone before being upended by Danny Rose.
The lead proved shortlived again. Christian Eriksen's free-kick was parried by Simon Mignolet, and although Kane was stood in an offside position, the flag stayed down as he centred for Mousa Dembele to net.
So justice was perhaps done, then, as the home side pinched a late winner. Back in January 2012, Mario Balotelli had come off the bench for Manchester City to inflict a late 3-2 defeat on Spurs, and the Italian repeated the feat here, latching onto a low cross from fellow substitute Adam Lallana in the 83rd minute.
There had been little to separate the sides all night and the full-time statistics supported that. Liverpool completed 307/398 passes to Tottenham's 300/402, while it was a dead heat in the attacking third.
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Kane scored his 23rd goal of the season in all competitions. For teams in the top four English tiers, only Eoin Doyle (25) has more.
Tottenham’s top scorer in all competitions last season was Emmanuel Adebayor with 14.
Kane has scored 12 goals in his last 15 appearances for Spurs in all competitions.
The top scorers in 2015 across the top five European leagues are Lionel Messi and Harry Kane (8 each).
Kane has scored and assisted in the same Premier League game for the second time, after doing so against Chelsea on New Year’s Day.
Spurs have now conceded 7 Premier League penalties this season; 2 more than any other side.
This fixture has now seen more goals than any other in the Premier League era (134).
Balotelli scored his first Premier League goal of the season with his 48th shot. It was his first goal in the English top-flight since November 2012 (Man City vs Wigan).
The Reds have lost just 1 of their last 21 Premier League home matches against Spurs (W14 D6 L1).
Analyse Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham yourself using Stats Zone
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
