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Liverpool and Tottenham demonstrated just what an exciting Premier League title race we have on our hands as the pair played out a pulsating 90 minutes at Anfield on Wednesday evening.

The Reds ran out 2-1 winners courtesy of a late Roberto Firmino header and it was a game they largely dominated – yet Tottenham can feel unfortunate to have not come away with a point at the very least based on the sheer quality of chances they created.

In the past three seasons we have been treated to title races characterised by the very elite running away with proceedings.

Manchester City sent records tumbling under Pep Guardiola en route to their 2017/18 title triumph, and though Liverpool pushed them all the way the following season, it was still two teams who were head and shoulders above the rest.

Liverpool then made up for the 2018/19 disappointment in style by effectively having the title wrapped up by Christmas – not even a global pandemic and three-month football hiatus could deny them one of the most convincing Premier League wins in top-flight history.

But things are a little different this season for all kinds of reasons – the lack of crowd, the absence of pre-season and the more congested fixture schedule that those in Europe are having to contend with – and the newfound chaos is a welcome change from the predictability of the last three years.

This was particularly evident on Wednesday evening as Liverpool leapfrogged Spurs at the Premier League summit with victory over their title rivals – a win that was somehow convincing yet unconvincing at the same time.

In the first half, Liverpool were outstanding. The midfield three of Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum and Curtis Jones absolutely ran the show. The passing and movement was quick, sharp and slick as the Reds carved out numerous promising openings.

Hugo Lloris was frequently called into action, but the majority of saves were routine. Only a deflected Mohamed Salah effort following great work from Jones could beat the Spurs goalkeeper. They had the goal that Chelsea and Arsenal before them had failed to grab in Tottenham’s two previous Premier League outings against so-called ‘Big Six’ opposition.

Mourinho’s side had hardly got out of their own half, let alone threatened, but were remarkably level just after the half-hour mark. Giovani Lo Celso picked out Son Heung-min with a terrific through ball, and his finish was similarly sublime.

Unlike last season, Liverpool have their flaws. Defensive capabilities have never been Trent Alexander-Arnold’s strongest asset, but he looks more vulnerable with the absence of Virgil van Dijk at the heart of Liverpool’s back four.

The Dutchman’s presence continued to be missed in the second half as twice Steven Bergwijn raced clean through on goal down the Reds’ right as Liverpool failed to win the ball in the air, but twice he was wasteful, first prodding wide and then rattling the post. Harry Kane then headed a terrific chance over from a corner. For all Liverpool’s possession and dominance deep in the Tottenham half, these three chances were more clear cut than anything they had mustered all evening.

But as the clock ticked down, the Liverpool of 2019/20 resurfaced, Firmino powering home Andy Robertson’s corner in the 89th minute. Although Alexander-Arnold is yet to hit the heights of last season, on the opposite flank Robertson excelled.

Liverpool are a more flawed side this season, they are more vulnerable defensively and they will likely slip up again, but Wednesday’s win demonstrates that they still have last term’s ability to grind out a win, and in this most unpredictable of title races, that is more valuable than ever.

In seasons past, Manchester City hosting a team of West Brom’s calibre would only ever end one way.
Namely, the home side scoring lots and lots of goals without reply.

Last season at the Etihad, Watford were smashed 8-0, Brighton 4-0 and Newcastle, Norwich and Burnley 5-0.

Against similar bottom half fodder in the Baggies on Tuesday evening, these comprehensive victories seemed a million miles away.

Sure, the Citizens did manage to poke their noses in front when Raheem Sterling’s cutback was side footed home by Ilkay Gundogan, but this goal was one of only two shots of targets the hosts had in the entirety of the first half. That was the exact same as their far more cheaply assembled opponents.

In fact, if anyone deserved to be ahead at the break, it was the Baggies. Half an hour before Semi Ajayi’s shot deflected in off Ruben Dias’ shin to make 1-1, West Brom frontman Karlan Grant should have put his side in front. Almost miraculously, the ball broke kindly to Grant in the area but his shot lacked conviction with Ederson getting down to save it easily.

For all of their possession – 76.7% to be precise – City’s first half performance was tepid at best. The usual overloads they forced out wide were absent with both Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden tucking in far too much, causing congestion in the middle. The pair’s narrowness was particularly strange, considering City’s goal came from a trademark piece of Sterling wingplay.

Much to the frustration of Joao Cancelo in particular, City’s full-backs had little joy without a winger to double up with. Kevin de Bruyne also continued to look unusually lethargic, barely creating anything, despite being paired with a more attack minded midfield partner than he had in the Manchester Derby in Gundogan.

After the break, City grew more and more frantic as they continually failed to break down West Brom’s low block. It took until De Bruyne decided to turn on the magic and the Baggies started to tire in the final twenty minutes, for the hosts to seriously look like scoring.

First, De Bruyne stung Sam Johnstone’s palms with a bobbling free kick. Soon after, Gundogan went close twice, forcing saves out of the Baggies stopper with a close range header and a free kick of his own.

The best chance of all fell to Sterling. With seconds left on the clock, a inch perfect cross from De Bruyne was begging to nodded home but his teammate could only produce the meekest of headers.

Full time, 1-1.

The result is a measure of how far City have fallen in recent times. This is far from the merciless team that used to toy with bottom half sides for sport. Against the Baggies, the Citizens could not get the job done, spurning a golden opportunity to close the gap to their title rivals.

Guardiola needs to help his players find their ruthless streak once again if they are to have any chance of returning the Premier League trophy to Manchester in the summer.

Ok, so they couldn’t possibly have picked everyone.

But even so, France Football’s ‘Ballon d’Or Dream Team’ is exceptionally weird.

Even putting aside the unhinged formation and the most top-heavy selection of players ever assembled, there is a list of former award-winners and nominees who you just cannot believe have been overlooked for a spot on the team.

And, with a little help from 90min‘s definitive list of the 50 greatest footballers of all time, here is just a few of them.

One of the finest players Brazilian football ever produced (and that’s saying something, by the way) Zico did it all with Flamengo. 12 years of extraordinary dominance saw him score close to 400 goals in 500 appearances for the club…from midfield.

Regarded widely as the best free-kick taker of all time, he is cited as having scored 101 times directly from set-pieces, and he is the fifth highest scorer ever for the Brazil national team.

Again, he was a midfielder.

Pele himself would later describe Zico as the player who ‘came closest’ to his greatness.

I mean why the hell isn’t he in the team, right?

AC Milan’s player of the century and also Serie A’s player of the century, Baresi’s influence led Milan to six league titles and three European Cups. He also marshalled the right flank on Italy’s way to lifting the 1982 World Cup.

He never won Ballon d’Or, which is an injustice in itself, but he did finish runner up in 1989…which is more than Cafu ever managed.

Yet Cafu is in the team, and Baresi isn’t. Make it make sense.

Puskas was so good, and more importantly the quality of his goals were so good, that he later came to have a France Football award named after him.

The Puskas Award goes out to the scorer of the best/most pleasing/most-generic-Mohamed-Salah goal of the year, and that’s a fitting tribute to one of the most entertaining players of all time.

Across his 629 appearances for Budapest Honved and Real Madrid, he scored goals at a rate of basically on per game (622 in 629).

Staggeringly, however, he also never lifted Ballon d’Or. Turns out that’s a difficult trophy to get your hands on.

In eight of his 20 seasons as a professional football player, Gerd Muller scored more goals than games played.

In 1972/73, he scored 66 in 49.

Whether it was for West Germany, Bayern Munich or the famous Fort Lauderdale Strikers, Muller just scored goals wherever he went.

It may just be that there is no player on the planet who enjoyed a better peak than Der Bomber, whose goalscoring record is outstripped only by his ludicrous list of trophies.

To be an elite footballer nowadays, you have to be completely committed to the professional game.

Your lifestyle, diet, sleeping pattern…all of it has to revolve around performance. Ask Cristiano Ronaldo.

It wasn’t always like that though, was it?

Mane Garrincha wasn’t interested in anything other than the joy of playing football, foregoing an agent and not even bothering to train, yet he dazzled the world on his way to lifting two World Cups with Brazil with his dribbling ability revolutionising the way football was played,

If Di Stefano needs introducing then you really need to swot up on your football history because you’ve done it all wrong so far.

Two-time Ballon d’Or winner, five time European Cup winner, and scorer of over 500 professional goals for club and country, few have ever done it like Di Stefano did it in the late 50s and early 60s.

Deserved owner of the best nickname in football history, the Divine Ponytail was untouchable. Simple as that.

The best player of one of the strongest eras enjoyed by any league in the history of football, Baggio’s savvy defined Italian football in the 1990s, his blend of classy playmaking and mesmeric dribbling helped him to league titles with Juventus and Milan, though he was frustratingly never able to win the World Cup despite being a fixture of a formidable Italy team.

From a trequartista role, he scored as many goals for Italy as Alessandro Del Piero, and scored more than 200 times in Serie A, making him the seventh highest scorer in the history of Italian football at the time.

Decent going.

Yeah yeah Platini is a bit of a wrong ‘un who was chased out of the UEFA presidency on some pretty strong corruption allegations.

Before that, though, he was seriously good at football.

I mean he won Ballon d’Or three years on the spin, something no player wouId manage again until Lionel Messi two-and-a-half decades later. I don’t know what more evidence you need than that.

Imagine you famously headbutt someone in a World Cup final, receive a red card for it, and ultimately cost your team the game. Then imagine you go on to win three Champions Leagues on the bounce as a manager, and all of that still pales in significance compared to what you did before.

Imagine how bloody sublime your prior achievements would have to be.

Ok, then times all of that by ten.

And then by ten again.

Good effort, but you’re still nowhere near as good as Zinedine Zidane was.

Johan Cruyff invented ‘total football’, the philosophy that went on to become the entire basis of the future of the sport, and he didn’t even mean it.

He was that good.

There isn’t a footballer whose influence will prevail as much as Cruyff’s has to this day. He’s the Godfather, the original, the Tony Stark to the modern football MCU.

Basically, he was really, really good, and any all-time XI for which he is eligible immediately loses all merit if he isn’t in it.

I don’t make the rules.

Leicester’s 3-0 win over Brighton on Sunday put them just one point adrift of Premier League leaders Tottenham going into the festive period.

The result was brilliant, as was their performance. Amazon Prime commentator and serial exaggerator Peter Drury described the Foxes’ first half display – in which they scored all three goals – as the best football of the season so far. Although Drury is prone to going over the top, on this occasion it was hard to argue with him.

Two brilliant strikes from James Maddison bookended the Foxes’ goals with his second being nothing short of stupendous. Picking the ball up just inside the box with Dan Burn keeping him – or at least trying to keep him – at arm’s length, he twisted and turned before unleashing a curling effort with his weak foot into the top corner.

It was Maddison’s best display in some time but he was not the only Leicester player to impress against the Seagulls. This time two years ago, James Justin was preparing for Luton Town’s League One fixture with Fleetwood Town. However, you could not tell that from his display at the King Power Stadium on Sunday.

Starting off at left wing-back in a 3-4-2-1, Justin’s switch to the opposite flank with around 15 minutes played changed the game. After this he operate as an auxiliary right midfielder as the Foxes moved to a makeshift four at the back system. In other words, the shackles were off, which allowed him to target Brighton’s lumbering left-back, Dan Burn.

Justin’s first involvement was providing the cross that led to Maddison’s first goal. After drifting into space out wide cleverly, he swung in a wicked cross which Vardy cushioned back into the path of the goalscorer.

His part in Leicester’s second goal was even more significant. With Leicester in transition, Justin had no problem keeping pace with his teammates.

Eventually, Ayoze Perez manged to slip a through ball into his path and without breaking stride, he played an inch perfect cross to the on-rushing Vardy.

He still had a lot to do, but Leicester’s number nine had a lot to thank Justin for, as he tucked away his 10th Premier League strike of the season.

This type of performance was very much deserved. Thrusted into the first team following Ricardo Pereira’s ACL injury on the eve of lockdown last season, Justin has largely been treated as a ‘one size fits all’ utility man during his Leicester career.

Since making his debut, he has been fielded as a right-back, centre-back, left-back, as well as a wing-back on both sides. Often, these position shifts have taken place mid-game as well.

Yet, despite only being 22, Justin has performed all of these roles with minimal fuss, not missing a single minute for the Foxes in the league this season and rarely putting a foot. It’s about time he got some mainstream recognition and his fine, attacking display against Brighton should do exactly that.

Manchester United star Paul Pogba has hit out at those who have questioned his loyalty and commitment to the Red Devils, stating that he has ‘always fought and will always fight’ for the Premier League giants.

The 27-year-old played the full 90 minutes in United’s 0-0 draw in the Manchester derby on Saturday, despite his agent Mino Raiola’s damning claims on Monday about the Frenchman’s supposed unhappiness at Old Trafford and desire to leave the club.

But Pogba took to Instagram after the Red Devils’ goalless draw to defend his corner, stating he ‘will always fight for Man Utd’, and ‘bla bla is not important’.

“I’ve always fought and will always fight for Manchester United, my teammates and the fans. Bla bla is not important. The future is far, today is what matters and I am 1000% involved!

“Always strong together.. all has been clear between the club and myself and that will never change.
When you don’t know what’s going on inside don’t talk ?#SpeakTheTruthOrRemainSilent#united#talktothehand✋? “

Pogba has been strongly linked with a return to Juventus, after Raiola declared the World Cup winner was ‘unhappy’ at Old Trafford, and Bianconeri sporting director Fabio Paratici admitted that the Italian giants ‘love him very much’.

Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has done all he can to throw cold water on these rumours, having stated that the midfielder ‘has got the hunger and appetite to play’ for the club, and has never downed tools during his time in Manchester.

Pogba’s future is hanging in the balance, and Man Utd’s hopes of keeping him will have been dealt a blow by their failure to qualify for the knockout round of the Champions League, having lost 3-2 to last year’s semi-finalists RB Leipzig.

But Pogba has promised to remain committed to the Red Devils – for now, at least.

December is always a fun time in the football calendar. Fixtures start coming thick and fast, and that just means more chances for the game’s top players to steal the show.

This week brought us the final matchday of the Champions League group stage, and as you’d expect, there was no shortage of drama, controversy and excitement – and that means plenty of great performances to rank.

You know the drill: we at 90min rank Europe’s top 15 players using quotes from a year of cinema history. This week, it’s over to 2010.

“Gentlemen, the only way to achieve the impossible, is to believe it’s possible.” (Alice in Wonderland)

Talk of Everton winning the title has died down a lot recently, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin obviously still believes.

He netted his side’s only goal in the recent 1-1 draw with Burnley, taking his tally to 11 in 11 games.

“I’m like a peacock, you gotta let me fly!” (The Other Guys)

Salah was flying in Liverpool’s 4-0 win over Wolves, stealing the show with a goal and an assist.

The Egyptian ended the week with another goal and another 90 minutes under his belt in the 1-1 draw with Midtjylland.

“I was carrying and reading the book everyday, got so caught up in protecting it, I forgot to live by what I’d learnt from it
.”
“And what’s that?”

“To do more for others than you do for yourself.” (The Book of Eli)

Ward-Prowse took a break from scoring free kicks this week and instead settled for an assist.

His corner allowed Jannik Vestergaard to head home an equaliser in the 2-1 win over Brighton, giving Southampton the platform they needed to get back into the game.

“I don’t think bad wiring is the problem here.” (Insidious)

After an electric start to the season, Berghuis is now without a goal in his last four games.

Unsurprisingly, Feyenoord’s results have taken a tumble at the same time, and they’re without a win in their last five.

“He’s brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind, and smart. But the thing that makes Woody special, is he’ll never give up on you… ever.” (Toy Story 3)

Footballing success aside, credit to Kylian Mbappe for voicing his support for Pierre Webo amid the racism allegations from Istanbul Basaksehir. Good man.

He stood by the Turkish side… but also put two goals and an assist past them in PSG’s 5-1 win.

“I’m very much afraid, sir, that your greatest test is yet to come.” (The King’s Speech)

After a red-hot few weeks, Felix took a step back this week, although it wasn’t entirely hit fault.

He was rested for Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 win over Real Valladolid and was then kicked from pillar to post against Salzburg. A rough week for Felix, but at least Atleti kept on strong.

“Don’t worry. The moon is as good as ours.” (Despicable Me)

Tavernier is shooting for the stars this season…literally.

The Rangers right-back bagged a goal and two assists this week to continue his ridiculous goalscoring rate in Scotland. He now sits on 16 goals and 12 assists in just 26 games, and he’s a defender!

“Sometimes the things you want the most don’t happen and what you least expect happens.” (Love & Other Drugs)

Crashing out of the Champions League so early probably wasn’t in Lukaku’s plans for this season.

He was powerless to do anything about Inter’s 0-0 draw with Shakhtar (well, maybe not considering he blocked his teammate’s goal-bound header), but he did at least manage to get on the scoresheet against Bologna.

“I’m the one who’s fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.” (The Fighter)

So often a sidekick, Muller took centre stage this week as he saved Bayern Munich from defeat at the hands of RB Leipzig.

The assist king popped up with two goals this week to salvage a point from the Bundesliga leaders, who were uncharacteristically shaky.

“Life can be difficult sometimes, it gets bumpy. What with family and kids and things not going exactly like you planned. But that’s what makes it interesting.” (Grown Ups)

You won’t find many weeks in which Bayern score five goals and Lewandowski isn’t involved in any of them.

He drew a blank against Leipzig before being rested for the 2-0 win over Lokomotiv Moscow.

“What is, and always will be my greatest creation, is you.” (Iron Man 2)

Sporting’s greatest decision was to bring in Goncalves from Familicao this summer.

The 22-year-old midfielder netted his tenth goal in his last six league games in a 2-2 draw with his former employers, and he’s currently three clear at the top of Liga NOS’ scoring charts.

“Well, that’s their own stupidity, I should have been there. Well, darkness is the absence of light, and the stupidity in that instance was the absence of me.” (The Social Network)

The absence of Bruno Fernandes made Manchester United look pretty stupid against West Ham.

The Red Devils could have been five or six down by the time Fernandes came off the bench at half-time, but the midfielder completely transformed the game.

He created a league-high eight chances in the game and walked away with an assist, and he only played 45 minutes!

“Such a beautiful place, to be with friends. Dobby is happy to be with his friend, Harry Potter.” (Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows – Part 1)

Son is happy to be with his friend, Harry Kane.

The pair combined to put Arsenal to the sword this week, with Son’s early opener – a sweet curler from distance – deservedly stealing the headlines.

“Which would be worse? To live as a monster, or to die as a good man?” (Shutter Island)

Ronaldo was back in Spain this week to take on Barcelona, and he picked up exactly where he left off.

He put in a monster performance as he netted twice in a 3-0 win for Juventus which earned his side the top spot in their European group at Barcelona’s expense.

“They say we only use a fraction of our brain’s true potential. Now that’s when we’re awake. When we’re asleep, we can do almost anything.” (Inception)

After a week away from the top spot, Kane has once again reclaimed his throne by proving there is nothing he cannot do.

The Spurs star ended the 2-0 win over Arsenal with a goal and an assist (as per), and then he chimed in with an assist just 12 minutes after coming on as a substitute against Royal Antwerp.

That’s just a standard week for Kane these days.

From Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – Bloody love Gareth Bale, me. Absolute hero round these parts, always will be. I still have the grainy video recorded on my brother’s old Blackberry of his winning free-kick in the last minute against Lyon in 2013. I still have his shirt from the 2011/12 season (signed by Nabil Bentaleb and Harry Kane, of course).

Thursday night’s 2-0 win against Royal Antwerp in Spurs’ final Europa League game was Bale’s ninth appearance since returning to north London, his first in front of fans, and boy have they missed him.

His name was cheered the loudest. His chant was the first sung. His first chance, a flick on from a corner, was the first of the match altogether. The stage has been set on more than one occasion on these Europa League nights to showcase the Bale everyone remembers.

But it just hasn’t clicked yet. His touches were loose. His runs were ill-timed. His teammates weren’t helping either, mind. Spurs were flat in the first half, just not enough for their visitors to forge a meaningful opening.

Mourinho said after last week’s draw with LASK that some players carried themselves as if they were above playing in the Europa League, and you could see his frustration with Spurs’ lack of urgency again, sprinting to collect every ball that went out of play by the dugouts, dictating the defence’s actions like a puppeteer (or Pep Guardiola).

It can be hard for even pro athletes at the top of their games to come into makeshift teams willy-nilly, but Spurs have been playing two games every week pretty much all season now. Everyone’s getting decent minutes. That excuse doesn’t wash.

This wasn’t a dead rubber match, either. In fact, it suited their needs to a tee – a must-win game against opposition they’re much better than (or are supposed to be, anyway) with competition for places rife. But there was a lack of urgency and quality until Mourinho threw on two of the five or six best players in the Premier League, an indictment on the whole squad.

A game in which Spurs took 21 shots to two didn’t tell the whole story. A game of football where Bale drives from deep and has six or seven pot-shots would be more productive than standing by the corner like Steph Curry and waiting for a perfectly-weighted through ball that isn’t coming. He wasn’t a passenger, but he wasn’t the conductor either.

With 55 minutes on the clock, Lucas Moura drew a foul around 25 yards from goal. Bale territory, almost exactly where he scored that goal vs Lyon from. Surely not?

Well, yeah, it wasn’t, but it was mighty close. Bale’s dipping effort was tipped onto the post by Alireza Beiranvand, only for Carlos Vinicius to pounce and tap home the opener. Still, the Welshman got the credit from the 2,000 faithful spaced around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But that was the end of his night, replaced by Son Heung-min with under an hour gone. Bale had a quiet game, yet still left fans on the edge of their seats and desperate for more.

He still has more to do. I wrote recently about Bale’s best role back at Spurs being as an impact sub or the second star if one of Kane or Son is unavailable, yet he still seems a worrying distance off that standard.

The rest of Mourinho’s squad aren’t escaping without criticism, but Bale is still viewed in many eyes as a superstar – he doesn’t need to start acting like it, just part of the way will do. That’s not too much to ask.

Nothing summed up the hopelessness of Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer more than the first 13 minutes of their 3-2 Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig.

The early stages of a football match at any level are normally pretty cagey with each sides sizing the other up. Add to that the fact that United only required a draw to progress into the knockout stages and it would have taken a brave person to bet on their being an early goal in this one.

Yet, with less than 120 seconds on the clock, the ball was in the Red Devils’ net.

There is a lot of blame to go around for this. Let’s start off with Aaron Wan-Bissaka – who has been having a fine season so far, making his lapses in concentration tonight all the more surprising.

Despite the goalscorer, Angelino, possessing hands, feet, legs, arm and a face – all the hallmarks of your average human – Wan-Bissaka decided not to treat him as such, letting Marcel Sabitzer’s cross reach him completely unmarked at the back post.

In the United right-back’s defence, a significant portion of the blame should also be attributed to the man responsible for setting the team up tactically. Flying full-backs or wing-backs have been a key feature of Leipzig’s game this season. Despite this, there was little to suggest that Solskjaer had prepared or adequately coached his players for this eventuality.

Sure, the addition of Alex Telles in an advanced left sided position may make it seem like this was the case but in the practice, did the Brazilian really end up offering Luke Shaw all that much protection?

He certainly did not for Leipzig’s second goal which came just 11 minutes later and was a near carbon copy of the first. Angelino was again key, taking up a position on the edge the box to receive another of Sabitzer’s trademark diagonal passes, which took the congested United midfield and defence out of the game.

Taking just one touch to set himself, he floated over a cross to Leipzig’s other wing-back Amadou Haidara, who vollied home emphatically. Where were Shaw and Telles? Nowhere to be seen, part of an anonymous mass of black shirts who seemed determined not to mark anyone throughout proceedings.

Both goals made for box office viewing for the neutral but United fans were not laughing. They were sighing – and these sighs turned to screams when some more players contrived to put on a defensive horrorshow of their own.

The calamities started 20 minutes from time when Victor Lindelof gave the ball away sloppily just outside his own area. Soon after, a painfully slow cross came in from that man again, Angelino. For whatever reason, neither Lindelof, nor Harry Maguire, nor David de Gea fancied clearing their lines which afforded Justin Kluivert the chance to grab Leipzig’s third goal.

Ignore their late rally, all three of the goals were unforgivable in a game of this magnitude and speaks volumes of the problems that have infested United for some time.

Tactical naivety, some players not being up to scratch for the level and weak leadership all played a role in the club crashing out of the Champions League. Not for the first time in recent months, serious questions need to be asked about where the Red Devils are heading.