Spurs good form continues

Carling Cup holders Tottenham continued their rich vein of form as they defeated Liverpool 4-2 at White Hart Lane last night. Roman Pavlyuchenko and Frazier Campbell both grabbed two goals.

The game exploded into life on 38 minutes when Pavlyuchenko fired Tottenham into the lead. Campbell raced to the by-line before cutting the ball back for his strike partner who fired a left-foot shot through the legs of Liverpool keeper Diego Cavalieri.

Campbell added a second for Tottenham four minutes later. Jamie O'Hara played a high ball over the top of the Liverpool defence and when Andrea Dossena clashed with his own keeper, Campbell had the easy task of knocking the ball into an empty net.

Tottenham fans could not believe what they were seeing and things were to get even better when Campbell made it three on the stroke of half-time.

Aaron Lennon's cross picked out the striker who peeled away at the far post and headed the ball past Cavalieri into the corner of the goal.

Liverpool gave themselves a glimmer of hope when they pulled a goal back on 49 minutes. Ryan Babel's corner picked out Damien Plessis who rose above Alan Hutton and headed the ball past Heurelho Gomes.

But Tottenham quickly restored their three-goal lead on 52 minutes when Didier Zokora raced unchallenged towards the Liverpool and his cross was turned in by Pavlyuchenko at the far post.

Campbell came within a whisker of grabbing his hat-trick on 55 minutes when Lennon turned provider once again and picked out the Tottenham forward who saw his header cannon back off the post.

Liverpool refused to throw the towel in and pulled another goal back on 63 minutes. Babel's corner caused all kinds of problems for Gomes who failed to deal with the ball and Sami Hyypia headed home from close range.

The home side had a major concern on 73 minutes when Gomes received treatment on the pitch for a lengthy period following a challenge with Philipp Degen and was carried off on a stretcher.