Jurgen Klopp has admitted he is out to avenge Liverpool’s controversial defeat to Tottenham in September when the sides meet again at Anfield on Sunday.
The Reds had two players sent off and saw a legitimate goal ruled out as a result of a catastrophic VAR error when the teams contested the reverse fixture in London.
Their pain was then compounded by the concession of an injury time own goal that handed Spurs a 2-1 victory.
And despite Ange Postecoglou’s side having little influence on the most contentious moments of that fixture, Klopp is still keen to set things right this weekend.
He said: “I don’t want to make it the biggest subject but I cannot forget the [last] Tottenham game as well, it was just so strange.
“Only the other night was the first time since Tottenham that Simon Hooper was standing next to me for 90 minutes in a game I didn’t enjoy in the first place against Everton.
“I tried to get it out of my head and couldn’t.
“Now we play Tottenham and that was obviously not their fault that night, they just played the game, but I would like to win that game for 500 reasons and that we lost there in the way we lost is one of them.”
Having enjoyed a strong start to this season that fostered hopes of Champions League qualification, Tottenham‘s form has fallen away in recent weeks.
They arrive at Anfield on a run of three consecutive defeats and with just two wins from their last seven outings, but Klopp still anticipates a test.
He continued: “You expect a good footballing side. I watched the game last night and they said after the game they weren’t good enough, but I thought they put Chelsea under pressure.
“Chelsea defended them well, pretty deep, scored the goals in the right moments. Chelsea did not bad – for the situation they are in, especially – but if you don’t defend Tottenham properly then they will play through it.
“They made a few changes, Maddison didn’t start, Bentancur didn’t start, Hojbjerg, not sure if they come back. They have options to change; do they start with Son up front or on the wings?
“I understand Ange doesn’t think it’s a great moment because of their expectations but you can always see a clear footballing idea and that is what they still kept.
“So we will have to be prepared for that and defend really compact, if you don’t do that they will play through because the idea is really obvious.
“Their season is similar to ours, maybe they didn’t think about becoming champion but for sure they thought about qualifying for the Champions League, which is now not that easy anymore.”
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