Who will step-up in this tricky fixture?

IT’S Tottenham at home today with Liverpool showing decent form in the last few games and Suarez scoring some fabulous goals.

A youngster called Philippe Coutinho will be hoping to continue his form with a few excellent performances already put in, while Brendan Rodgers describes his match fitness still at around 70 percent.

The North Londoners meanwhile, riding high of the back of a 3-0 win over Inter Milan.

Gareth Bale in blistering form. Gylfi Sigurddson enjoying life at White Hart Lane. Even Jan Vertonghen looking dangerous.

Oh and by the way, Liverpool are yet to beat a top 4 side this season. It’s hard not to say despite encouraging signs, the Reds may get mowed over by this Tottenham side.

At the same time, this team has shown they’re made of sterner stuff in the past though. Especially when there have been question marks over them.

Right now there’s a big one. Can they return to the consistency Liverpool fans once blindly took for granted.

Not even league-winning form, but around 5-6 years ago, fixtures like playing Tottenham and Manchester City, even the Merseyside Derby were a piece of cake.

On a bad day, you may lose but there used to be few of them back then. Of course both Spurs and City have become different footballing entities now.

So have Liverpool, mind. But it’s slid downhill these last few years when fans feel relieved if the side goes up a goal, before that feeling of nausea takes over because you just feel something’s going to go wrong.

There’s been a slight resurgence since those performances though. That comeback against Zenit St Petersburg; yes it still must sting to exit the competition. But the match itself showed the players refusing to be bogged down anymore.

Now’s the time more than ever, to take that spirit and push it up a fair few notches.

There’s been a fair bit of criticism for Jonjo Shelvey lately mind. People saying it’s still not known where he should play and what he’s good for. That may be a bit unfair, given he was played as a replacement striker when Sturridge hadn’t come in and Luis Suarez was either injured or being rested.

He’s more an attacking midfielder or perhaps even a defensive one, with decent ability to retain the ball and he does work hard to win it back as well. People keep saying he’s been at the club a fair while but still hasn’t established himself anywhere.

To be honest, he’s hardly had a regular string of appearances at the club. One game he comes in, next time he’s played somewhere else and that maybe be 2-3 weeks apart. That’s hardly the way for anyone to find their feet. He’s an out and out midfielder.

Either way, this time out against Tottenham there’s no point speculating who’ll play and where. There’s a few obvious ones – Suarez, Gerrard, Downing, etc.

If Danny Sturridge is fit and plays with Suarez, given their partnership so far, maybe Gareth Bale does end up a one-man team falling slightly short? Here’s hoping.

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