Mané Double Downs Spurs

Sports - Football - Premier League - LFC 2:0 THFC

Man of the match Sadio Mané's double helped Liverpool to their much missed winning selves to beat Tottenham 2-0 at Anfield.

The Senegal forward's return from the Africa Cup of Nations served the Reds their first win of the year, injecting much missed energy, speed and determination.

Mauricio Pochettino's men don't like the top six as form shows (recording just 1 win in the last 17 games), whilst Jürgen Klopp can be a very relieved man.

Most of the action happened in the first half, the Reds dominating the show, making Spurs look clumsy and all over the place.

Mané fired the home side ahead after 16 minutes, beating left-back Ben Davies to Georginio Wijnaldum's pass.

138 seconds later, the £34m former Saints man doubled the lead from close range after a fine double save by Hugo Lloris denying Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino.

If it weren't for the French stopper, the score could have been much worse at the interval, Liverpool recording 13 attempts, 8 on target, keeping him very busy.

At the other end, Simon Mignolet didn't have much to do, but was alert enough to deny Son Heung-min one-on-one shortly after Mané's double.

The second half was less eventful, the Reds happy and comfortable with the lead, Spurs not threatening nor creating much.

The win takes Liverpool back up to fourth, whilst second-placed Tottenham see the gap to the top widen to nine points, with both Chelsea and Man City still to play on Sunday and Monday respectively.

Liverpool Goals: Mané 16' & 18'.

Liverpool Team: 22 Mignolet; 2 Clyne, 33 Matip (booked 56'), 21 Lucas (17 Klavan 82'), 7 Milner (booked 68'); 20 Lallana, 14 Henderson (c) (booked 53'), 5 Wijnaldum; 19 Mané (66 Alex-Arnold 90'+2'), 11 Firmino, 10 Coutinho (23 Can 77'). 4-3-3
Subs not used: 1 Karius, 15 Sturridge,  18 Moreno,  27 Origi.

Tottenham Team: 1 Lloris (c); 2 Walker, 4 Alderweireld (booked 83'), 15 Dier (booked 78'), 33 Davies; 19 Dembele (17 Sissoko 77'), 12 Wanyama; 23 Eriksen (29 Winks 68' (booked 71')), 20 Alli, 7 Son (booked 28') (9 Janssen 82'); 10 Kane (booked 67'). 4-2-3-1
Subs not used: 13 Vorm, 14 Nkoudou, 16 Trippier,  27 Wimmer.

HT & FT stats: LFC-THFC
Possession: 54%-46% & 51%-49%
Attempts: 13-5 & 17-7
On target: 8-2 & 9-2
Offsides: 0-0 & 2-1
Corners: 8-2 & 10-3
Fouls: 5-5 & 14-14
Yellow cards: 0-1 & 3-5
Red cards: 0-0 & 0-0

Referee: Anthony Taylor
Man of the match: Sadio Mané
Ground: Anfield
Attendance: 53,159

Pictures and stats taken from the BBC match report and Sky Sports match report and live coverage.

Click here for my previous LFC match report.