Within 16 minutes, Mohamed Salah scored the first goal of the match at Anfield with a header, continuing Ange Postecoglou’s team’s awful play from the first half. Just before halftime, Andy Robertson doubled Liverpool’s lead with a close-range tap-in.

When Romero and Royal got into a fight in the middle of the pitch as both teams were heading to the halftime tunnel, the afternoon took a bad turn for Tottenham. Goalie Guglielmo Vicario dashed out of his box to keep the two defenders who had been face-to-face apart.

Roy Keane, a pundit for Sky Sports, said the event was encouraging for Tottenham but he also challenged both players to improve their defence.

“I generally don’t mind that kind of behaviour because it shows that you are invested in the game,” he stated. But their players and defence ought to exhibit that kind of aggression. Spurs have not done well at all. “That’s fine, but you need to play with more aggression overall, something Spurs hasn’t done.” Before heading the ball home, Salah lost Royal in the back post, setting up his first goal.

Five minutes after the break, Harvey Elliott pickpocketed the Brazilian defender and sent the ball into the area for Cody Gakpo to give Liverpool a 3-0 lead. Romero’s inability to clear his lines was punished once more as Elliott scored a spectacular goal to enter the scoreboard.

Even though Richarlison and Son Heung-min scored two goals for Tottenham later on, the north London team lost for the fourth time in a row.