Liverpool shatter Spurs’ top four bid as Villa eye CL

Liverpool shatter Spurs’ top four bid as Villa eye CL

Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo (centre) celebrates with teammate Mohamed Salah (second from left) after scoring a goal during the Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield in Liverpool yesterday. (AFP)

Liverpool shattered Tottenham’s hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four with a 4-2 win that left Aston Villa on the brink of Champions League qualification despite their 1-0 defeat at Brighton yesterday.Needing a win at Anfield to close the gap on fourth-placed Villa, Tottenham slumped to a fourth successive loss to leave their Champions League hopes in tatters. Villa are seven points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham, who have a game in hand but will miss out on the top four if Unai Emery’s men win one of their remaining two matches.Mohamed Salah was back in the Liverpool team after being dropped for last weekend’s draw at West Ham. The Egypt forward had argued with Klopp before being introduced as a substitute at the London Stadium and fanned the flames afterwards when he said there would be “fire” if he spoke about the clash.Klopp, in the final weeks of his nine-year reign, was celebrating in the 16th minute when Salah notched his 25th goal in all competitions