RAUL KEEPS WOLVES IN HUNT
Hungry Lampard is aiming to kick Reds while they’re down Jimenez has the golden touch
FRANK LAMPARD has vowed to go all out to inflict a second defeat in successive games on Liverpool and dump them out of the FA Cup tomorrow.
The runaway Reds were brought crashing down to earth when they lost 3-0 atWatford on Saturday, ending their hopes of an unbeaten league season.
And now Lampard has promised to play his strongest side against them in the fifthround tie at Stamford Bridge. The Chelsea manager said: “We will go for victory. It’s Liverpool. Our fans want us to overturn the best team in the land.
“It doesn’t mean I don’t change a couple of people, fresh legs or a couple of different options, but I won’t pick a team casually. I will be treating it with the care I’d give a Premier League game.”
Chelsea needed two goals from wing-back
Marcos Alonso to rescue a point at theVitality Stadium after Jefferson Lerma and Josh King had scored for Bournemouth.
Cherries midfielder Philip Billing has told the doubters not to write them off when they travel to Anfield in the Premier League on Saturday. He said: “Nobody thinks we will get anything.We have to make sure we’re 100 per cent and go in with the right attitude. It’s a challenge, but you look forward to these games. Even though you know everyone is going to doubt you and think it’s an easy win for Liverpool, you have to believe in yourself. “Obviously they’ve been unbelievable, but it still 11 versus 11. Hopefully we’ll just play as everybody knows us, and that’s energetic, attacking football.”
THE RACE for Champions League places looks like it may just come down to who has the man to bang in the goals. Tottenham do not, but Wolves do.
Raul Jimenez converted his chance expertly at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday to take his tally for the season to a remarkable 22 as his combination with the electric Diogo Jota tore Spurs apart.
Meanwhile, still in the treatment room for probably another six weeks are Tottenham’s main strikers Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min.
If ever that loss was exposed, it was yesterday. Jose Mourinho’s team strived, they battled, they probed. But they simply did not have the wit or invention to open up a formidable Wolves defence or, crucially, the strikers to finish off the chances.Wolves did.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s powerful, pacy and clever team moved ahead of Spurs into sixth. They are behind Manchester United on goal difference only and fifth will be good enough for a Champions League place if Manchester City do not succeed in getting their European ban overturned.
Mourinho’s Tottenham, after successive Premier League defeats, look like they are running rapidly out of steam.
It was the second weekend in a row where Mourinho has been schooled by one of his pupils – Frank Lampard with Chelsea last week and now his former Porto goalkeeper Nuno.
Spurs suffered a blow before kick-off when goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was ruled out with a groin injury. But Mourinho’s move of playing Eric Dier in defence was what really hurt them. It backfired spectacularly.
Wolves’ ability to break with pace was also instrumental in their fifth away league win of the season – in their 46th game of the campaign. The danger was there from the start as Adama Traore broke clear but shot wide.
But Spurs, with Lucas Moura again gallantly leading the line, actually took the initiative. From the excellent Giovani Lo Celso’s pass, Serge Aurier crossed low and Steven Bergwijn slotted home after Dele Alli’s effort had been saved by Rui Patricio.
Wolves, though, were never quiet, Jota shooting over.And then they were level with a goal that will give Mourinho nightmares.
Ruben Vinagre burst down the left, Dier completely missed his cross, the ball bounced back off the hapless Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty finished with aplomb.
But on the stroke of half-time, without really creating too much, Spurs were ahead again. This time Alli played in Aurier on the right and the wing-back cut in to curl his shot nicely past Patricio.
Though Ruben Neves headed over, the key moment for Spurs