There comes a time for fans of teams at the top end of the table when they start to believe their side can win the league. Liverpool supporters were not of this mind frame on the first day of December 2013, when the Reds lost 3-1 at Hull City.
The result left them fourth in the table, seven points adrift of leaders Arsenal. As they finished the previous season – Brendan Rodgers’ first – seventh this was hardly disastrous, but having begun their campaign with three straight wins, hopes had grown that Liverpool might kick on a bit more.
Things quickly turned after the debacle in east Yorkshire though. Three days later, Norwich City were blown away 5-1 at Anfield, with Luis Suarez holding a goal of the season contest on his own, then three days after that West Ham came calling and lost 4-1.
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While they were excellent results, they weren’t the hardest home fixtures. Beating two sides who began the month in the bottom seven in the Premier League should be par for the course. Winning at Tottenham, when Liverpool had lost their previous six visits to White Hart Lane, would be a different matter entirely.
Nine years ago this week, Rodgers’ Reds made that task look easy with a 5-0 win. What made it even more remarkable was that their small squad was deprived of Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge, two hugely influential players.
Suarez was made captain for the day which seemed to inspire him, though he was already performing at other-worldly levels at the time anyway. Nonetheless, he scored twice, provided two assists and effectively set up the other goal too. There was no question regarding the man of the match award that day.
Suarez began the rout by opening the scoring. He received the ball from Jordan Henderson, evaded two sliding challenges and rolled the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. Five minutes before the interval, the pair combined again to enable Liverpool to double their advantage.
A pass from Suarez assisted Henderson to have a shot, which Hugo Lloris saved. He was also equal to the follow-up effort from the Reds’ number seven but their midfielder and future captain finally beat the Spurs goalkeeper at the third time of asking.
The opening quarter-hour of the second half was reasonably even but Spurs’ hopes of a comeback effectively ended in the 63rd minute. Paulinho was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on – you’ll never guess – Suarez. Tottenham didn’t have a single shot thereafter, while Liverpool toyed with them, had a little fun, and cut loose to record an emphatic victory.
Though Jon Flanagan never managed to truly establish himself in the first team, he became a cult hero in 2013/14. Twenty-five of the 51 appearances he made for the club occurred that season, and his only strike happened in this match. Suarez dinked a pass to the back post for the unmarked left-back to score the type of goal everyone loves to see, where the ball strikes the cross bar and the water gathered on it falls to the floor. A very picturesque winter moment, with Christmas approaching.
Substitute Luis Alberto then collected the only assist of his brief Liverpool career when his pass enabled Suarez to lob Lloris and make it 4-0. The former Ajax forward then played in Raheem Sterling to round off the scoring and seal a memorable afternoon in north London. "It was a masterclass, a display of exhilarating football," former Tottenham manager David Pleat said afterwards (per LFC History). "Liverpool were speedy and purposeful with brilliant individual touches. They have produced a superb away performance," he added.
The result needs to be put into context. It was - at the time - only the seventh instance of the Reds winning an away game in the Premier League by at least five goals. The previous instances had been against teams such as Swindon, Ipswich and West Bromwich Albion, not clubs who had been playing European football at the time. Until Liverpool beat Manchester United 5-0 at Old Trafford last season, this was surely the club’s best performance on the road in the modern era.
Despite being seventh in the table, Tottenham fired Andre Villas-Boas the following day. Some defeats are simply too brutal to recover from. As for Liverpool, they had cut the gap at the top of the table to two points and given their fans reason to believe a serious title challenge was on the cards. Boy was it.
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