Premier League Crunch Match: Top 4 Ambitions for Liverpool and Tottenham

On Sunday afternoon, two of the Premier League's big sides come together at White Hart Lane as Liverpool visits North London to take on Tottenham Hotspur in what could be a big three-pointer in the race for Champions League places.

Last season, Spurs managed their best finish in Premier League history and were the team who took Liverpool's usual place in the top four, while the Reds' terrible season left them in seventh position.

At present, the London side sit in sixth position with 22 points from their 14 fixtures, while Liverpool are three points and three places below them.

Liverpool have flattered to deceive for much of the season, yet for all their failings, sit only six points below the Champions League spots. This season's unpredictable nature has seen most teams drop points at unexpected moments.

Roy Hodgson has guided his team up from the relegation zone into the top half since the derby defeat at Everton in mid-October, with only one more league defeat in the intervening period.

Saturday's home victory over West Ham momentarily closed the gap to the much-coveted top four to just three points, until Manchester City's comfortable victory over Fulham the following day, but Hodgson and his Reds will face a much sterner test on Sunday against a Tottenham side who will be flying after their marvelous comeback against local rivals Arsenal at the weekend.

Arsenal led two-nil at the break, but Spurs fought back to win three-two thanks to goals from Gareth Bale, Rafael van der Vaart (penalty) and Younes Kaboul. That result propelled Spurs back into the fighting group for the top four places after they had previously tasted victory in only one of their five most recent league fixtures.

Manager Harry Redknapp has been effusive in his belief that his team can not only secure a top-four spot, but even go on to win the league.

Whether that is the case or not remains to be seen, but what is sure is that this game could be a key decider in which team goes on to provide the biggest threat to the likes of Manchester City in the final league standings.

This season's Liverpool side, away from home at least, will provide something of a contrast in styles to Spurs' fast-paced attack.

Hodgson has favoured, not exactly in accordance with supporters' wishes, a deep-lying defensive set-up looking to break forward at opportune moments. With little if any width away from home, Liverpool will rely on being difficult to break down and trying to give Fernando Torres some service over the top of the Spurs defence.

Perhaps this will be perceived as being as nice a way as you can get of saying "Liverpool will look to utilise the long-ball for Torres to chase," but the fact remains that Liverpool have lacked in creativity and invention away from home until now.

With just 13 wins from 82 away fixtures in his Premier League managerial history, perhaps it is no surprise that Liverpool have struggled away from home under Roy Hodgson. Be that as it may, he could perhaps be forgiven for thinking defence is the best form of attack against Spurs as he tries to stifle the threat of Bale, van der Vaart, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko, who have helped Spurs net 13 times in the past five games.

Liverpool should welcome back schemer Joe Cole this weekend after his troublesome hamstring injury, meaning the Reds have an almost clean bill of health at last after persistent knocks. Long term absentee Daniel Agger is still missing, while last week saw midfield duo Steven Gerrard and Jay Spearing pick up injuries to keep them out for four and six weeks respectively. Lucas Leiva also returns from his one-game suspension, which saw him sit out the West Ham victory.

For their part, Tottenham were pleased to welcome back striker Jermaine Defoe from injury against rivals Arsenal, but they still have several names missing from their regular starting line-up, particularly in defence.

Jonathon Woodgate's long-term injury has prevented him from even being named in Spurs' Premier League squad, while Michael Dawson and Ledley King are still also sidelined. Midfielders Jamie O'Hara, Gio dos Santos and Niko Kranjcar are also currently struggling for fitness.

Spurs face a home match vs. Werder Bremen in the Champions League midweek while Liverpool have the week off with no Europa League game until the following week.

While Spurs' home league record (P7 W3 D3 L1) is comfortably better than Liverpool's away record (P7 W1 D2 L4), the two sides have similar statistics in league matches played directly after European fixtures—three wins and one draw apiece, with two defeats for Spurs and three for Liverpool.

Many will give the simplistic view that the outcome depends on the form and fitness of Spurs winger Bale, who's goal scoring exploits and powerful runs down the left flank have attracted admirers all over Europe.

However, the fact is that Spurs have many match winners in their side on their day—van der Vaart's phenomenal goal scoring record at White Hart Lane in the early part of his Spurs career will have Carragher and co. carefully watching him this weekend—but Aaron Lennon and Tom Huddlestone, if fit, can also provide a run or pass to win a game in an instant.

Add to that Spurs' firepower with the return of Defoe, the presence of Peter Crouch and the greedy and at-times mystifyingly bad Pavyluchenko, who still somehow manages to score amazing goals out of nothing, and Redknapp has a plethora of attacking options with which to try and break down Liverpool's defence.

As for Roy Hodgson, the first-half display against West Ham is almost required reading from Liverpool fans, yet the fear is that the boss slips his team back into its usual pattern of sitting deep and relying on break-away chances, not easy to come by with the lack of pace in Liverpool's midfield and the absence of captain Gerrard.

Three points in this fixture for either side would represent an enormous benefit, not just in terms of league placing but also in knocking a main rival for the coveted Champions League spots off their stride. Should Liverpool win the match, they would be level on points with Spurs as the half-way stage of the season nears, which would be a remarkable feat given the dreadful start the Reds made to the campaign.

However, should Spurs get the win, they would be (provisionally) level on points with fourth placed Man City and, significantly, six points ahead of Liverpool again.

Both teams will believe they are capable of getting the victory, but a lot could be determined by the tactical deployment from both managers, and you feel that should Hodgson and Liverpool sit back and try to soak up pressure and hit Spurs on the break, both Liverpool's lack of attacking pace and Spurs' ability to retain possession of the ball could prove their undoing.

With good service to the front line, Torres is capable of troubling even the best defences on his day and Spurs' back four is far from the best—showing that surely attack is the best form of defence for Liverpool at White Hart Lane, and not the other way around.