Match Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Liverpool

White Hart Lane has proved to be a difficult venue for Liverpool over the years, with the Reds losing their last four visits to N17 and last winning there in May 2008. As Spurs picked up their first three points of the season at Wolves last weekend, Liverpool sunk to a 1-0 defeat to Stoke, although arguably being the better side. The two teams will be aiming for that illusive fourth spot and be hoping for Champions League football next season. They meet on Sunday, with the home advantage being Tottenham€™s. Harry Redknapp rested key men in their Europa League fixture against PAOK on Thurday, including Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Emmanuel Adebayor and Scott Parker, showing that this is an extremely important game. Kenny Dalglish€™s team will be looking to bounce back with a win, as Spurs€™ hidings from both Manchester teams were slightly redeemed last weekend and they€™ll be looking for two consecutive wins. Liverpool fans would have been spurred on this week by the thought of their skipper, Steven Gerrard, making a long awaited return from a groin injury, but the 31 year old won€™t be playing. Having only been back in training for little more than a week, it€™s been decided that Gerrard will return in the Carling Cup fixture away at Brighton next week. Red€™s manager Kenny Dalglish doesn€™t want to throw his captain straight back into the hustle and bustle of the Premier League, so will ease the number eight back in to match fitness on Wednesday€™s cup fixture. Elsewhere, Glen Johnson, who returned from injury as a substitute against Stoke, has suffered a further setback and will be out for another month after a recurrence of a hamstring injury. Martin Kelly has recovered quicker than expected from his hamstring injury and could be in contention for a place in the squad to face Spurs. Michael Dawson, Rafael Van der Vaart, Aaron Lennon, Stephen Pienaar and William Gallas are all out injured for Spurs, even though there was speculation of Van der Vaart returning for the fixture. Parker and Adebayor will be making their full home debuts for Spurs and will be looking to make life hard for the visitors. Craig Bellamy looked sharp when he came on against Stoke last weekend for the Reds and the Anfield faithful will be hoping he can impress on Sunday. Stewart Downing is still in search of his first goal for his new club, but has created numerous chances. Andy Carroll will be hoping for a place in the starting eleven after finding himself becoming all too familiar with the substitute bench of late, but he will be hard pushed to budge Luis Suarez and Dirk Kuyt out of the team. Predicted Line-ups: Spurs: 24 Friedel, 3 Bale, 4 Kaboul, 26 King, 28 Walker, 32 Assou-Ekotto, 8 Parker, 14 Modric, 21 Kranjcar, 10 Adebayor, 18 Defoe Subs: 23, Cudicini, 19 Bassong, 29 Livermore, 31 Townsend, 9 Pavlyuchenko, 17 Giovani, 34 Falque Liverpool: 25 Reina, 3 Enrique, 5 Agger, 23 Carragher, 37 Skrtel, 14 Henderson, 19 Downing, 21 Lucas, 26 Adam, 7 Suarez, 18 Kuyt Subs: 32 Doni, 34 Kelly, 16 Coates, 11 Maxi, 20 Spearing, 9 Carroll, 39 Bellamy Tottenham vs. Liverpool is live on Sky Sports at 1.30pm.