Premier League 2019-20: 5 talking points from Liverpool's 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur

Mohamed Salah stepped up to the penalty spot and scored the decisive goal that gave Liverpool a massive three points against Tottenham Hotspur. With the come-from-behind win, the Reds once again went six points clear of Manchester City in the table.

Harry Kane kicked off things early in the game, scoring with a composed header within a minute of kick-off. Having been hit with a body blow so early in the game, Liverpool plowed forward and it took them a while to get into their rhythm.

Once they did, they bombarded Tottenham's goal, but wouldn't breach it till half-time. Meanwhile, the Spurs were frequently troubling Liverpool's defence on the counter-attack.

At the start of the second half, Liverpool had another indication of the threat the Spurs posed when Son Heung-Min hit the crossbar with a shot having gone past Alisson. The home side would score only minutes after that chance, with some good work down the right flank from captain Jordan Henderson.

Then Serge Aurier made a hash of a clearance and caught Sadio Mane in the box, handing the hosts a penalty that was converted by Salah. Although Tottenham did attempt to draw level, coming close on a couple of occasions, the Reds would hold out for a valuable three points.

On that note, here is a look at the five biggest talking points from the match:

#1 The sublime Gazzaniga

Had it not been for Gazzaniga, Spurs might have been looking at an embarassing score

Liverpool had 21 shots in the game, and 13 of those shots were on target. It's not often that they rack up those kind of numbers without seeing much of a return; the unusual numbers were largely because of a spell-binding performance in goal from stand-in goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.

Shots from Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Roberto Firmino, Georginio Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk, which could all easily have nestled in the back of the net, were kept out by the custodian. He gave his side a fighting chance in the game at Anfield, and that's more than any team can ask of their goalkeeper.

#2 Liverpool's fullbacks were a chance creation machine

Alexander-Arnold was stifled for parts of the game but Spurs struggled to keep him quiet

Some of the best chances in the game fell to Tottenham. However, in terms of sheer number of chances, Liverpool led by a mile. They were taking shots from a distance, getting in crosses from deep, running down the byline and on a couple of occasions even attempting to slip through the odd runner down the middle.

The fact that a large chunk of this came through their full-backs is nothing new. But the fact that they managed to do so even with Spurs paying close attention to them is a testament to how hard this Liverpool team works to get them into areas where they can do damage.

Roberto Firmino's role coming in deep and pulling players towards him not only creates space for the wide runners, but also drags midfielders into narrower positions than they would need to be in to tackle the full-backs.

That makes for a dangerous loop in Liverpool's attack.

#3 Spurs targeted Dejan Lovren

Spurs' early goal came from Son running at Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dejan Lovren

If Liverpool attacked down their left, Spurs did the same going forward as well, using the other side more sparingly.

They seemed to have identified the Dejan Lovren and Trent Alexander-Arnold axis as a weak point for them to exploit. Given that their early goal came down that side and that they created a fair number of chances in the game using that approach, they may have struck on something useful.

When Spurs went with a more direct route it was with Harry Kane playing around Lovren and winning the first ball, trying to find runners around him. In other instances, Son Heung-Min tried to take on either Lovren or Alexander-Arnold and run beyond them.

While the approach bore tangible fruit only once, it seriously troubled the Liverpool backline throughout the game.

#4 Lop-sided Liverpool

Robertson often found himself in plenty of space down the flank

This was probably a result of Tottenham's tactics or personnel, but Liverpool's most productive forays forward came from the left-hand side. With Son doing a better job of tracking Trent Alexander-Arnold than Christian Eriksen did of managing Andy Robertson, the Reds naturally started to play more down their left flank.

Some of the chances they created, even if they weren't the most clear-cut ones, were with Robertson going down the byline and Alexander-Arnold coming more infield.

As the game progressed and the game got more stretched, Alexander-Arnold got more space down the right. But for most of the game Liverpool were forced to play out to Robertson, who often found himself in huge amounts of space on the far side.

The likes of Sheffield United and Manchester United have found ways of keeping both of Liverpool's full-backs relatively quiet. And Spurs attempted something similar without really doing so effectively.

#5 Problems at the back for Jurgen Klopp

Jurgen Klopp needs to address his shaky-looking backline before the problem gets worse

Liverpool were just like they have been for the most part of the last couple of seasons - an absolutely frightening unit going forward.

Since Virgil van Dijk's arrival, they have been secure at the back and are well-equipped to deal with different attacking sides. But they struggled to cope with Spurs at the back, especially on the counter, with Harry Kane sitting in front of Dejan Lovren and winning headers or Son Heung-Min running down either flank.

Towards the end, when Liverpool were protecting their lead and the visitors had sent their full-backs further up, they struggled to cope with Spurs' overloads on either side. Had the chances for the away side fallen to different players, or if Danny Rose and Dele Alli had showed more composure, the scoreline might have read differently.