Afternoon folks! What an afternoon we have ahead of us at Anfield, where the sense of anticipation is the highest its been for many years. Liverpool will go top of the pile if they avoid defeat today. Team news just emerging from Merseyside...

BREAKING TEAM NEWS! Looks like Rodgers is really going for it as he drops Joe Allen in favour of Raheem Sterling. That means that there's Coutinho, Sterling and the deadly duo of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge ahead of Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson. Full lineup to follow.

LIVERPOOL XI: Mignolet; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Flanagan; Gerrard, Henderson; Coutinho, Suarez, Sterling; Sturridge

LIVERPOOL SUBS: Jones, Allen, Aspas, Sakho, Lucas, Cissokho, Moses

TOTTENHAM XI: Lloris; Naughton, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Sigurdsson; Lennon, Eriksen, Chadli; Soldado

TOTTENHAM SUBS: Friedel, Dawson, Dembele, Sandro, Townsend, Winks, Kane

Like his opposite number, Sherwood makes one change in midfield as Gylfi Sigurdsson earns a place in the starting lineup after his late heroics against Southampton last week. The Icelandic international replaces Mousa Dembele, who drops to the bench.

UPDATE: Liverpool's Merseyside rivals Everton are down in the capital and have just gone 3-1 up on rockbottom Fulham. Roberto Martinez's Toffees are closing in on the top four!

Back to today's game at Anfield where the main talking point is red-hot Liverpool. Rodgers's Redmen have won seven in a row and you can see just how close they are to the summit here. Spurs are by no means out of the race for the top four but will feel that they have to claim all three points today.

UPDATE: The full-time whistle has just gone at Craven Cottage, with Everton piling more misery on lowly Fulham with a 3-1 victory. After a goalless first half, Roberto Martinez's three subs played a part in all three goals. Read more in our match report here.

Anyway, enough rabbiting on about Everton! Back to today's feature game, which kicks off in a little over half an hour. Liverpool will have great memories of facing Spurs...

LAST TIME OUT! It was some afternoon for the Reds when they travelled to White Hart Lane in December. They put five unanswered strikes past Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal, condemning Andre Villas-Boas to the sack. More here.

Tottenham's record against the Reds, especially at Anfield, isn't great. The North London club have won just six of their 70 league games at Anfield, drawing 20 and losing 44.

Here's Spurs coach Steffen Freund talking us through the Spurs team news. He confirms that Emmanuel Adebayor again misses out through injury.

REFEREE WATCH: The man in charge today will be Phil Dowd, who gave out seven yellow cards and one red card in his last Premier League match between Norwich and Sunderland last weekend.

Liverpool boss Rodgers has been speaking to Sky Sports News and admits that he was watching yesterday's results with interest. He adds: "We can only take three points at a time, and that's our only focus."

Do Spurs even stand a chance today?

Sherwood slightly reveals his tactics in a pre-match interview, suggesting that he will ask his boys to play cagily at the start before hoping that the game opens up later on. He also admits that he hasn't watched back the mauling in the reverse fixture as he is "too scared to". Hardly encouraging!

PREDICTION TIME! Just 10 minutes separates us from the off at an expectant Anfield. It's hard to look past Liverpool today and I certainly don't see Spurs picking up all three points. Sherwood's side could certainly nick a point though and I reckon it might just be a cracker. 3-2 to the Reds.

There's a plane trailing a banner flying over Anfield, but it's nothing sinister and just advertising for a topsoil company!

The pre-match handshakes have just been completed at a sun-soaked Anfield. Liverpool's fans have made the Kop look ever so impressive with loads of scarves and flags swaying as 'You'll Never Walk Alone' is belted out. Here we go!

KICKOFF! And we're off at Anfield. Phenomenal atmosphere inside the stadium.

Here's a sample of the rousing atmosphere:

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Blimey, that didn't take long! The hosts go in front inside two minutes as Sterling rolls it into Johnson's overlapping run. The England right-back brushes off the challenge of Eriksen and crosses low into the middle where first Vertonghen misses it before it hits Kaboul and rolls agonisingly over the line.

Anfield is bouncing and they can smell blood early on here. They've been surging forward and just had another opening through Suarez, who got his bearings a little wrong and curled well wide of the target.

CHANCES! Action at both ends as first Eriksen gets into the Liverpool box but can't pick out a white shirt in the middle. Liverpool race down the other end and Kaboul misjudges a flighted ball over the top, gifting Suarez the ball before getting back and winning it off the Uruguayan.

Poor refereeing from Dowd as he blows up for a foul against Liverpool just as Spurs had worked the ball brilliantly down the left.

CHANCE! Almost two for the hosts as Coutinho slips in Suarez down the inside-left channel before the Uruguayan dinks a cross to the back post that is just too high for his partner in crime Sturridge.

Great idea from Coutinho as he pings in a reverse ball that's just too strong for the clever run forward of Henderson. Kaboul's OG is the sixth-fastest in Premier League history, by the way.

Another ambitious effort from the Reds as Suarez clips the ball to the edge of the area where Coutinho meets it on the volley but can't wrap his foot around it to test Lloris.

Twice in the last couple of minutes Spurs have broke well through Eriksen and Chadli, but both men were unable to slip through the right pass to create a goalscoring opportunity.

Dowd awards Liverpool a dangerous free kick after the ball struck Sigurdsson on the arm. Another worrying sign for Spurs is that Vertonghen is down injured and will have to leave the field for the free kick.

Suarez steps up and gets good pace on the ball and it's up over the wall but never looked like coming back down and troubling Lloris.

SPURS SUB: The visitors are forced into a change as Vertonghen slumps down the touchline and is replaced by club captain Michael Dawson.

Oh dear, oh dear! Dawson with an awful pass with his first touch that Suarez intercepts and then bears down on goal. Dawson gets back and forces him onto his weaker left foot, but it doesn't affect the Premier League's top scorer, who reaches 29 league goals for the season by rolling it across Lloris and into the far corner. Clinical.

CHANCE! Great chance for Spurs to half the deficit as Eriksen collects the ball in the area but has his shot blocked by Skrtel. You really feel that Spurs need to score before half time and stop this red rush.

What must Sherwood be thinking? He's sat up in the stands and you simply can't blame him for the basic errors that have gifted Liverpool their two goals.

BOOKING! Kaboul picks up the first yellow card of the game. It's a little harsh on the Frenchman, who made little contact with Sturridge.

Sturridge takes the free kick himself but, like Suarez, can't test Lloris from 25 yards.

SHOT! First difficult save for Mignolet to make as Bentaleb winds up from 25 yards and hits it really well with a bit of swerve. The Belgian keeper gets right behind it though and holds well.

Spurs having their best spell of the match here and again test Mignolet as Soldado's cross-cum-shot is punched well away by the Reds' keeper.

OFF THE BAR! Oh my goodness, what a save from Lloris! Spurs continue to look like a Sunday League side at the back as Kaboul dilly-dallies and is robbed by Sterling. The England winger chips to the back post where Suarez is waiting to powerfully head at goal but somehow he's kept out by Lloris's right hand, that diverts the ball up onto the crossbar before he collects it.

CLOSE! Suarez wants a second before the break and curls a 20-yard free kick a yard or so wide of the far post after Naughton had handled on the edge of the area. Two minutes added on before the interval.

The form book isn't going to be upset today, by the looks of things. Liverpool are on course for their eighth-straight win and, most importantly, top of the Premier League table!

Here's how the Premier League table looks right now. Make sure you're following us on Twitter - @SportsMole.

Liverpool have actually had less shots on target than Spurs - two to three - but completely deserve their lead. They've been clinical and fully look like the in-form side.

Here's a great shot of Liverpool's fans going wild in the background as Kaboul's inadvertent clearance nestles in the corner of his own goal.

The two teams are back out and the second half is about to begin. No half-time changes from either Rodgers or Sherwood.

KICKOFF! Suarez and Coutinho get the second half underway. Have Spurs got any chance of getting back into this? They need a goal, and quickly.

BOOKING! Instant yellow card at the start of the second half for Sigurdsson, who blatantly hauled back Coutinho after the Brazilian had escaped his attentions.

Almost a wonderful first-time through-ball from Suarez on the volley, but Kaboul just nips in to snatch it away from the Englishman. Spurs really need to grab this game by the scruff of the neck in the next quarter of an hour.

Soldado is unlucky as he outmuscles Agger but then has absolutely no support in the middle before Agger plays the ball against him for a Liverpool goal kick. The Spaniard has been very lonely up front for the visitors today.

MISS! Liverpool should be out of sight. Sterling and Suarez play a wonderful one-two before Sterling opts to tee up Henderson instead of shooting. It's not the easiest of cutbacks as the ball is bouncing a little but Henderson makes a mess of it by leaning back and spooning over.

It's three now though as Coutinho scores his first Anfield goal of the season, collecting Flanagan's pass and driving at the area before shooting low from 20 yards and just out of reach for Lloris.

Liverpool are on their way to an eighth consecutive Premier League victory and have scored a whopping 29 goals so far in those eight games. That's almost an average of four a game!

SPURS SUBS: Sherwood makes his second and third substitutions, taking off Lennon and Chadli for Andros Townsend and Mousa Dembele.

Instant impact from Townsend as he beats two men on the right wing before clipping to the back post, but there's no-one there to meet it.

Dembele picks out Chadli with a pullback and the Belgian is forced into shooting quickly and can only swipe it over the top.

LIVERPOOL SUB: Rodgers makes his first change, shoring up the midfield by bringing on Joe Allen for Coutinho, who gets a rousing ovation from the Anfield crowd.

Sterling almost returns the ball to Suarez with a clever backheel but Lloris is quick off his line, as always, and collects the ball. Suarez hobbles away from the challenge but looks OK.

CHANCE! Do Spurs want Liverpool to score more? Rose inexplicably gifts Sturridge the ball and the England striker almost pulls off a backheel into the net but is denied by Lloris.

LIVERPOOL SUB: Rodgers gives his skipper a rest, with Gerrard going off and Lucas Leiva on in his place.

Dawson gets a talking-to from Dowd after complaining that Suarez had tumbled too easily under a challenge.

Henderson gets in on the act as his low free kick goes through a crowd of players before bouncing into the far corner. It looks like Suarez might have reached 30 goals for the season but he points at his teammate, insisting that it's his.

CHANCES! A couple of openings for the visitors to score a consolation as first Chadli's shot from inside the box is brilliantly blocked by Agger before Dawson's volley from the resulting corner goes well over the top.

Flanagan makes a crunching, but fair, tackle on Soldado to deny the Spaniard a chance to shoot when it looked like it had opened up for him.

LIVERPOOL SUB: Final change for the hosts as Raheem Sterling is replaced by Chelsea loanee Victor Moses. As Liverpool's fans applaud their man off the field, Spurs fans sing "WHERE IS OUR MANAGER?" Another nightmare afternoon for Mr Sherwood.

If things stay as they are, Liverpool will have won the two games against Spurs by an aggregate scoreline of 9-0 this season. An amazing turnaround considering that Spurs finished 12 points better than the Reds last season.

Dawson goes close to getting Spurs on the scoresheet as his looped header from a corner plops onto the roof of the net.

Blimey, check out this stat... Spurs have conceded 44 Premier League goals this season, 20.4% of which have been scored by Liverpool!

Soldado has been bullied by Skrtel and Agger today and now goes down again after an aerial challenge with the former. A sad sight for the visitors as the Spaniard is carried off on a stretcher.

Three more minutes for Spurs to endure at Anfield.

SAVE! Mignolet with a smart reaction stop low to his right to keep out Eriksen's deflected shot.

All over at Anfield and yet another fantastic afternoon for Rodgers's Reds. They've now won eight in a row and today's three points see them soar to the summit. Click here to see how the table looks.

Spurs didn't help themselves by letting in two easy goals in the first half, but they were a class apart today. Sherwood's glum expression didn't change all afternoon as he watched his team get outplayed from the stand. His side's chance of getting into Europe looks slim now as they are sixth in the table, four shy of Everton, who have a game in-hand.

We've got to dash off but make sure you stick around on site for plenty of reaction and analysis from Anfield. Good evening!
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