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Once again, the London club proved great entertainment but that was little consolation to fans who have seen them concede nine goals in their last two home league games.

They also showed their chaotic side in a 4-3 League Cup win over Manchester United in midweek, after which Postecoglou took issue with some pundits who questioned his tactics.

In reality, a three-goal deficit masked the gulf between Tottenham and Liverpool on Sunday, but Postecoglou once again came out fighting in some spiky post-match interviews.

In one, his patience appeared close to snapping when he was asked whether there were other reasons apart from a lengthy injury list as to why his side were down in 11th place in the table heading in to Christmas.

Tottenham started against Liverpool without first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, centre backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, left backs Ben Davies and Destiny Udogie and forward Richarlison.

"You know what? I'm just going to stop answering these questions," the Australian told BBC Sport. "If people can't see the obvious I'm not going to point it out. Look, make of it what you want, yes we're conceding goals.

"If you want to discount the fact we're missing a goalkeeper, two centre backs and a left back as well and that hasn't coincided with what we're doing ... I don't know what to say anymore."

According to Opta, Tottenham's Premier League games under Postecoglou average 3.6 goals per game, the highest for any manager taking charge of at least 50 games in the competition.

Some are now suggesting that Postecoglou is more interested in style than substance and while Spurs fans still sung his name on Sunday, many took to social media or radio phone-ins to criticise him for Tottenham's fragility.

"If people want me to change my approach, it's not going to change. We are doing it for a reason, we are doing it because we think it will help us to be successful," he told reporters.

"I get the idea that people think that I should just flip a switch and change and somehow that will miraculously make us a better team."

Postecoglou said last month that if his side were 10th at Christmas no one would be happy, confidently predicting that they would have climbed the table by the festive period.

But that is now the reality. Asked whether he was feeling under pressure, he said: "I'm not sure what you mean by pressure. I'm not happy about where we are in the table. I'm not sure about pressure in what sense?

"If you're saying that 10th means I'm not doing a good job and I maybe somehow should be uncomfortable, well that's for others to judge."

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The Reds were 5-1 up and cruising thanks to a quickfire second-half double from Mohamed Salah with just over an hour played, before Dejan Kulusevski and former Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke pulled it back to 5-3.

Luis Diaz scored his second five minutes from time to make it 6-3 and finally end a crazy contest, which Slot said was Liverpool's best away performance of his tenure.

"Until 60-65 minutes (in), I really, really, really enjoyed what I saw," Slot told reporters.

"But then you also saw that, no matter how much quality players have, they think they don't have to run anymore.

"In this league, especially against Tottenham because they are so good with the ball as well, they immediately start to create. And that's what they did, and they scored two goals. I was happy that the sixth one went in, to be fair."

The Liverpool boss, who has enjoyed a near-flawless start to life at Anfield, accepted that "maybe it is human that if you are 5-1 up, you think 'OK'".

"I exaggerate a bit if I say they don't run anymore," he conceded.

"Of course they still run, but they don't run to crosses anymore, they don't defend in front of the goal, where until that moment it was every time, wherever the ball was, we were there with two, three, four players."

But Slot said his players needed to be more ruthless, telling reporters: "You have to be on top of your game every second of the game. And if you're not 100%, then it immediately hurts you."

Slot, who won the Dutch league with Feyenoord before joining Liverpool, was happy to be top of the league at Christmas but said there was a long way to go.

"Of course it means something, because you always prefer to be where we are at the moment ... but you know just as well as I know, because I've won the [Dutch] league once, how hard it is to win it," he said.

"You have to keep on going, keep on going, every three days you have to be on top of your game, every minute of the game.

"That's why it's so hard to win it, because it's not always easy to show up every three or four days."

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LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points with a dominant but chaotic 6-3 win at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday thanks to doubles from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah.

Diaz met Trent Alexander-Arnold's beautiful cross with a diving header to open the scoring before Alexis Mac Allister nodded home from close range to double Liverpool's lead.

James Maddison pulled one back four minutes before half-time after Mac Allister was dispossessed in midfield by Dejan Kulusevski to give the hosts a route back into the contest.

But Dominik Szoboszlai scored in first half added time to restore the Reds' two-goal lead and give Spurs a mountain to climb.

Salah netted twice in seven second-half minutes, passing Liverpool great Billy Liddell on the club's all-time scoring list with his 14th and 15th league goals of the season, to make it 5-1 and send some Spurs fans heading to the exits.

"I'm happy and proud, I'll just keep working hard," said Liverpool's now fourth most prolific scorer with 229 goals.

Dejan Kulusevski's volley was followed by Dominic Solanke's 83rd-minute goal to give Spurs hope of an unlikely comeback, before Diaz made it 6-3 two minutes later and finish a madcap contest that could have had even more goals.

"We were quite good up front but defensively we need to improve as a team," added Salah to Sky TV. "It's quite good the result, and hopefully we just keep going."

Liverpool are top with 39 points from 16 games, four points above second-placed Chelsea who have played a game more.

Spurs remain 11th, with 23 points from 17 games, but boss Ange Postecoglu insisted his side would stick to their attacking style, which has produced 30 goals for both sides in their last five games, despite Sunday's "painful result".

"I think I've been really, really patient the last 18 months, sitting up here answering the same questions over and over again," he told reporters.

"If people want me to change my approach, it's not going to change. We're doing it for a reason, we're doing it because we think it'll help us be successful."

BREATHLESS

The Reds constantly threatened in attack and Salah ought to have put them ahead inside three minutes when Spurs goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who made two costly errors in midweek, passed straight to him in the box, but Salah dragged his shot wide.

Salah then hit the bar after beating three defenders with some silky footwork, but the visitors deservedly took the lead in the 23rd minute with Diaz heading home at full stretch.

A second looked an inevitability and it came in the 36th minute after Andy Robertson's cross to Szoboszlai bounced kindly for Mac Allister, who nodded past the onrushing Forster.

Mac Allister was at fault for Spurs' first goal, however, which came out of nowhere and ought to have given Spurs a platform to drag themselves back into it.

But Szoboszlai made it 3-1, running onto Salah's through ball and nutmegging Forster at the end of a sweeping move.

Salah got in on the act after the break, tapping home from close range in the 54th minute and then adding another shortly after when Szoboszlai laid it on a plate.

Liverpool showed no signs of sitting back, with Forster forced into a good save to deny Alexander-Arnold, before Kulusevski and then Solanke raised the prospect of a remarkable comeback.

But Diaz placed a clinical finish past Forster with five minutes of normal time remaining to end a breathless encounter, which fell two goals short of equalling a Premier League record.

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot praised his side's offensive display, but admitted he felt slightly relieved with their sixth goal to snuff out Spurs' faint hopes of a comeback.

"Until 60-65 minutes (in) I really, really, really enjoyed what I saw," he told reporters.

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Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne

LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Chelsea staged a remarkable comeback to beat Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 and move four points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool but Arsenal dropped points in the title race on Sunday.

Enzo Maresca's Chelsea side were 2-0 down after 11 minutes at their London rivals but hit back in thrilling style with the instrumental Cole Palmer scoring twice from the penalty spot.

Chelsea's fourth successive Premier League win lifted them to second place with 31 points from 15 games.

Liverpool, whose derby at Everton on Saturday was postponed because of high winds, have 35 points from 14 games.

Arsenal have 29 points from 15 games as they were left frustrated by a late Bukayo Saka goal being disallowed in their 1-1 draw earlier in the day at Fulham.

Bournemouth staged a 2-1 comeback win to deny Ipswich Town their first home victory and Leicester City also came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion.

Maresca has talked down Chelsea's title chances but his free-scoring side are now part of the conversation having banged in a league-leading 35 goals so far this season.

"2-0 down, it was the worst picture for us. We conceded two goals from (Marc) Cucurella and a couple more chances from the wrong build-up," Maresca said. "Second half, we deserve to win."

Spaniard Cucurella made an almost comical start to the derby, losing his footing twice under no real pressure and twice being punished with Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski both scoring to give the hosts a dream start.

But once Jadon Sancho rifled in a shot after 17 minutes to reduce the deficit a wide-open game began to swing Chelsea's way. Palmer equalised from the spot on the hour and was heavily involved again as Enzo Fernandez volleyed Chelsea in front after 73 minutes from the edge of the area.

'PAINFUL ONE'

Palmer put the icing on the cake with a cheeky 'Panenka' penalty after he had been brought down in the area. Son Heung-min's stoppage-time goal was only a consolation for Tottenham who are down in 11th place in the table.

"It is a sore one, a painful one," Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said. "We had moments to get our third and at halftime we were in a decent position. The second half is a ding dong, especially at the start."

With Liverpool falling foul of the elements and fourth-placed Manchester City only drawing on Saturday, Arsenal had the opportunity to make up ground but were stunned when Raul Jimenez gave Fulham an 11th-minute lead at Craven Cottage.

William Saliba equalised from close range shortly after the interval and Arsenal thought they had won it in the 88th minute when Saka headed in, but the goal was ruled out by VAR.

"We dominated most of the game... It's frustrating not to win," Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard told Sky Sports. "We have to focus on ourselves. We don't care about the other teams (in the title race). It's a very long way to go. We've said hundreds of times we have to keep going game by game."

Fulham, who also thwarted the Gunners both home and away last season, have lost just one of their last seven league games and are in 10th place.

Bournemouth climbed to eighth in the table after goals from substitutes Enes Unal and Dango Ouattara propelled them to victory over Ipswich, who are four points adrift of the safety zone in 18th place.

Ipswich took the lead in the 21st minute when Conor Chaplin side-footed home and seemed set for three morale-boosting points until Unal headed home in the 87th minute. Ouattara then grabbed the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

"You start to think it's not your day but luckily we took them in the end," Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola told the BBC. "The subs gave us the end product that we were missing. We were arriving in the right places but just not finishing."

Late goals by captain Jamie Vardy and Bobby De Cordova-Reid salvaged Leicester City's draw with Brighton at the King Power Stadium. Tariq Lamptey gave the visitors the lead in the 37th minute with a spectacular left-footed strike before Yankuba Minteh doubled Brighton's advantage in the 79th.

Vardy pulled one back seven minutes later before De Cordova-Reid levelled in added time.

Brighton are seventh in the table and promoted Leicester are five points above the drop zone in 16th.

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Reporting by Lori Ewing and Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond and Toby Davis

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LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna described his side's shock 2-1 triumph at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday as a landmark victory in the club's history.

Goals by Sammie Szmodics and Liam Delap earned promoted Ipswich their first Premier League win for 22 years and lifted them out of the relegation zone.

"I'm not going to shy away from it, it's a really significant moment and a day to cherish in the recent history of the football club," McKenna, who masterminded back-to-back promotions to lead the so-called Tractor Boys back to the top flight, told reporters.

"Look at the journey the club's been on the last 22 years, the ups and downs, some of the depths, I think for the supporters to see their club win in the Premier League at a fantastic club like Tottenham, against a team like that, in a stadium like this, is a massive day for them."

Ipswich have impressed this season with the style of their football but were the only team in the Premier League not to have won a game heading into the game at Tottenham.

But they took a 2-0 lead and although Rodrigo Bentancur pulled one back for the hosts, they hung on.

"For those of us who have been on the journey for the last couple of years it's a really significant day as well," McKenna said. "From where the club has come from, competing in the first few Premier League games was a big step, but now of course, making that next step and winning a game, is a really, really significant landmark in the journey.

"As we've said many times, it's a relatively new group coming together, trying to adjust to the demands of the Premier League and, for many, to a new club as well. So it's a really significant step for them."

Heading into the international break, Ipswich have eight points from 11 games and are in 17th position.

Musician Ed Sheeran, the club's best-known fan and who played a role in the design of the pink kit the club wore on Sunday, shared the joy of the team as he popped into the dressing room after the final whistle.

"He congratulated the boys. It was nice to see him. We had his designed (pink third) kit on today, so maybe that brought us a little bit of luck!" McKenna, a former Tottenham youth team player and who began his coaching career there, said.

"We'll have a few days off now and we'll then have a nice long run in to another brilliant game after the break."

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BRIGHTON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur's second-half capitulation to lose 3-2 at Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League was as bad as it gets, dumbfounded manager Ange Postecoglou said on Sunday.

Spurs were 2-0 ahead and cruising with first-half goals by Brennan Johnson and James Maddison putting them on course for a sixth successive win in all competitions.

But they crumbled after the break as goals by Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter and Danny Welbeck turned the game on its head to leave Tottenham empty-handed.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Postecoglou said his players were guilty of complacency in the second half.

"Disappointing. Frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. Worst defeat since I've been here," the Australian said.

"Unacceptable second half. Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how we were going. We kind of accepted our fate and it is hard to understand as we've not done that while I've been here. We paid the price.

"The problem is we are travelling along too smoothly, football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself. It is a terrible loss for us -- as bad as it gets."

Tottenham would have moved to the fringe of the top four had they won the game but instead go in to the international break in ninth place with 10 points from their seven matches.

Brighton are up to sixth, two points better off.

"They all go on international duty, the majority of them. They will process it individually and I will process it when everyone gets back," Postecoglou said.

After five league games without a win, Brighton's second-half display sent their fans into raptures.

"My team deserved to win, they worked hard and focused on the things they could control," Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler said. "I think Tottenham always have a great start. They play with intensity and we were not ready for that.

"We also created chances but defensively we have to improve. We focused on the positive things, the second important thing was to win the duels to build self-confidence. The players worked hard to gain flow and they used it."

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