Ekitike and Isak help Liverpool squeeze past nine-man Tottenham

In a chaotic 2-1 victory over nine-man Tottenham, Alexander Isak endured a bittersweet evening as the Liverpool striker scored before limping off injured.

After Xavi Simons was sent off before the break for a nasty lunge on Virgil van Dijk, Isak gave Liverpool the lead in the second half in north London on Saturday.

Since his record-breaking 125-million-pound ($166m) move from Newcastle on transfer deadline day, Isak has scored three goals in all 16 games in all competitions.

The 26-year-old was forced to come off in spite of Micky van de Ven’s unsuccessful attempt to stop him scoring in keeping with Isak’s troubled start to life with the Premier League champions.

In his final four games, Hugo Ekitike scored the winning goal, but Richarlison’s reply brought a tense finale that culminated with Romero’s stoppage time dismissal.

After extending their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions, Arne Slot’s team are now in fifth place in the Premier League, further distancing themselves from their miserable run of nine defeats in 12 games that caused them to become insolvent.

Isak’s injury, which came after Mohamed Salah’s departure for the Africa Cup of Nations, could not have come sooner. Liverpool steadied the ship with a third successive win.

After his revealing interview two weeks ago in which he claimed he had been thrown under the bus by the club and that there was no longer a relationship with the Reds manager, Slot claimed on Friday that Liverpool had “moved on” from the Salah controversy.

He was substituted in last week’s victory over Brighton despite being dropped from the squad for a Champions League match against Inter Milan.

Isak’s injury is a particularly painful blow if he is ruled out for a long time because the 33-year-old is currently on international duty with Egypt for a number of weeks.

Isak’s fitness will be a strain on Slot, and Thomas Frank, Tottenham’s manager, will be even more anxious during the holiday season.

The Dane’s future in his troubled first season in charge was debatable after last weekend’s limp 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

After only winning one of their last eight league games, Tottenham are currently in 13th place.

Even though Tottenham won the Europa League last year to end its 17-year trophy drought, Ange Postecoglou was fired, and Frank could end up with the same fate as the Australian if things don’t change.

In the 33rd minute, Simons sent his studs down Van Dijk’s calf with a foul challenge from behind, leaving Tottenham with a mountain to climb.

Following a VAR review, Simons was initially booked for the foul.

Conor Bradley was substituted at half-time by slot and it took the Sweden striker just 11 minutes to break the deadlock with a 300 million pounds ($399 million) goal.

When Florian Wirtz was picked out by Ekitike, all three of Liverpool’s expensive close-season signings came together and he slipped a perfectly weighted pass to Isak, who drilled a clinical finish past Guglielmo Vicario from 10 yards.

In the 66th minute, Ekitike doubled Liverpool’s lead.

Ekitike out-jumped Romero to thump his header into the top corner after Jeremie Frimpong’s deflected cross flew into the six-yard box.

After Reds captain van Dijk erred with a clearance in the 83rd minute, Richarlison made a close-range save to end the deficit.