Tottenham Hotspur 4, Liverpool 0: Big Win Makes Spurs into Favorites for 4th

Coming into this round of fixtures, the match between Tottenham and Liverpool shaped up to be an important fixture in this season's race for fourth place.

After just the first few weeks of the season, it has become abundantly clear what teams would finish in the top three.

With Spurs getting thrashed by the duo from Manchester in their first few matches, public opinion removed Tottenham from the running and turned fourth place into a two-horse race between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Coming into this weekend, after the drubbings just kept coming from the Manchester sides, Arsenal and Liverpool showed weakness, and Tottenham picked up a league win, the match between Tottenham and Liverpool shaped up as a chance for Spurs to get their name back into the race.

What ended up happening was Tottenham emerging as the favorites for that last Champions League place.

Sure, the game meant more to Tottenham than it did to Liverpool; the Reds made that abundantly clear with their completely flat performance in the first 30 minutes of the match.

But the lack of discipline throughout the rest of the match was what really spelled trouble for Liverpool's season.

Two players earned two bookings each, reducing Liverpool's side to nine men. The fouls leading to each booking were rash and careless.  

Dumb fouls loses matches.

Meanwhile, Arsenal spent their match against Bolton the day before letting the opposition back into the match time after time and putting the ball into their own net.

Tottenham did start the season pretty abysmally, losing a combined 8-1 to Manchester United and City over two matches.

With those teams destroying every other team in their paths (most notably Man U's 8-2 win over Arsenal), combined with the drama surrounding Modric and the entire Spurs squad at that point, Spurs' losses don't seem nearly as bad as they looked at the time.

In fact, they pale in comparison to Liverpool's losses over the past two weeks and Arsenal's over the course of the season, thus far.

On the pitch, Spurs' squad looks to be gelling.

Scott Parker has looked like an incredible addition to the squad, Modric looks very happy to be there, Adebayor is lending a pure goal-scoring flare that the team was lacking, and Defoe is thriving with Adebayor next to him.

The defense has even looked vastly improved.  

Kyle Walker played very well today, and Liverpool's whole squad looked amazingly ineffective in the first 30 minutes.

Sure, Liverpool did not seem at the top of their game, but even Suarez was shut down pretty effectively.

This match today may have been only one fixture, but it may also prove to be an important result in the race for fourth.

Spurs stuck their neck out in fourth as front-runners for the Champions League.