Liverpool suffers home sickness

Liverpool suffered a touch of home sickness on one of the few occasions this season -- and it could not have happened at a worse time. Manager Roy Evans was desperate to secure a victory today that would have kept up the pressure on Premiership leaders Newcastle. Instead Liverpool had to settle for a point, much to the frustration of the Kop.

They went into the match with renewed optimism about their title hopes following the 2-0 midweek victory at Aston Villa. But Tottenham were more than a match for them and defended resolutely in all areas of the park. It was the first time Liverpool had failed to score in 11 League games.

England manager Terry Venables took in the game with the focus on the country's two most successful striking partnerships. Liverpool's Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore had gone into the match with 34 goals between them while Spurs' Teddy Sheringham and Chris Armstrong had 33.

Today the four strikers could not manage a goal between them in front of the watching England coach. Of the quartet, Armstrong caught the eye with his tireless work rate and ability to carve out an opening.

John Barnes chalked up a personal milestone in the match, the Liverpool skipper making his 500th League appearance. Mark Wright replaced Neil Ruddock at the heart of the defence as he was starting a two-match ban with Spurs giving a debut to midfielder Andy Sinton following his recent £1.5million move from Sheffield Wednesday.

Liverpool carved out the best opportunities early in the game and keeper Ian Walker had to get down quickly to smother a shot from Collymore after Rob Jones had played the ball across the face of the goal. Armstrong then showed what he was capable of, firing a dangerous ball across the area but none of his Spurs colleagues were able to get a foot to it. Barnes then released Collymore but Walker was again alert to the danger and saved comfortably.

Spurs defended deep and well and Gary Mabbutt made a good block from Collymore's shot after Steve McManaman and Michael Thomas had linked up. Sheringham fired a volley into the crowd from Ruel Fox's corner and then Steve McManaman had the crowd on their feet with a surging run that took him past Colin Calderwood into the heart of the Spurs defence only to put his shot wide of the target.

Liverpool had a let off when Fox released Armstrong and David James raced off his line. Armstrong skipped past them but took the ball too far. Collymore then whipped in a cross and Fowler just failed to get a touch with no-one marking him. Liverpool keeper James did well to touch over a header from Armstrong after Sinton had floated in the cross. Collymore then turned quickly to get in a shot that was tipped over the bar by Walker.

Jones was replaced by Rush with six minutes to go and he set up Jason McAteer whose shot from just inside the penalty area went agonisingly past the post.

Liverpool were grateful to keeper James for denying Spurs victory when he did well to turn away a shot from Armstrong after the Spurs striker had skipped away from McAteer and Wright to get in a fierce shot.

Liverpool slipped 11 points behind Premiership leaders Newcastle after being held to a 0-0 draw by Tottenham at Anfield today but manager Roy Evans is refusing to concede defeat in the title race. "Obviously the pressure is more on us than Newcastle, and this result makes it more difficult," said Evans. "But there are a lot of tough games to come, and you cannot be expected to win all your matches. Newcastle are in the driving seat and if they keep winning they will obviously be the best bet. We feel we have got to win every game, but I have to give the opposition some credit. Spurs have a good away record and played well on the break. I don't think that's the best we have played, although we carved out enough chances. We were a bit dithery at the back with our passing and our best spell came in the last half hour."

Liverpool keeper David James made two superb saves from Chris Armstrong, although Jason McAteer could have sewn it up for the Anfield outfit near the end when his close range shot went wide of the target. Spurs manager Gerry Francis was delighted with his team's performance, claiming: "It was a magnificent team performance. We tried to nullify Liverpool's strength and also get at them. We wanted to put their defenders under pressure and it worked. I was very satisfied with the display but we feel disappointed with the result as we thought we should have won the game. We are still going through a learning process and trying to add to our squad. There is no club better to learn from than Liverpool. Liverpool's passing and movement is something I've long admired. But we had the best three chances in the game and should have gone home with three points."

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