Tottenham Hotspur take on Liverpool in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final on Thursday.
The game at Anfield is arguably Spurs’ biggest fixture of the season now. Their Premier League form hasn’t been great, while there’s still a long way to go in both, the Europa League and the FA Cup.
A win against the Reds will send them through to the final, and Tottenham have a big advantage thanks to their 1-0 lead in the first leg.
However, Liverpool are still the favourites to go through in many people’s eyes, and Mohamed Salah will be the Reds’ main man against Spurs on Thursday.
Djed Spence is finally showing Tottenham fans why he was brought to the club.
The Englishman has been on Spurs’ books since 2022, but he had played just 43 minutes of senior football for Spurs before the start of this campaign.
Even Ange Postecoglou wanted to sell Spence last summer, but no move materialised for the 24-year-old back in August.
Spence didn’t get many opportunities in the first few months of the season, but after Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies’ injuries, Postecoglou gave him a chance.
The full-back has been absolutely amazing for Tottenham. He has been playing at left-back, which is not his natural position, but his performances there have been fantastic.
On Thursday, Spence is expected to come up against Salah, and the Tottenham star is not backing down.
“I back myself against anyone, whoever,” Spence told The Mirror.
“He’s a great player, a top player. He’s in good form but you’ve just got to nullify what he’s good at really. He’s good at a lot of things, I just gotta stay focused on it and hopefully come out on top.
“We’ve got to be confident and we’ve got to be ready to fight and hopefully, we make it to the final.”
Spence’s stats vs Liverpool in the first leg
Spence and Salah came up against each other in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final in January at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Spurs defender did a decent job in that game as well, and the stats prove it.
In his 90 minutes, Spence had 78 touches of the ball and completed 36 of his 43 attempted passes, thus maintaining a healthy 84 per cent passing accuracy.
He also won eight of his 12 duels, made two tackles, an interception and six clearances against the Reds.
More importantly, throughout the game, Spence wasn’t dribbled past a single time despite coming up against arguably the best right winger on the planet, Salah (Sofascore).
Tottenham fans will be hoping there will be a repeat of that at Anfield on Thursday night.