New manager, same old story for Tottenham against Liverpool. They now trail 12-0 on aggregate in their past three matches against Brendan Rodgers’s side, who recovered impressively from their defeat to Manchester City. Goals from Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard and Alberto Moreno were enough for them and there was also a promising debut for Mario Balotelli, who managed to behave himself. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.

90 min+1: In the first of three additional minutes, Tottenham scream for a penalty as Lovren helps himself to a handful of Adebayor’s shirt in the area. Phil Dowd waves play on.

90 min: I neglected to mention that Jose Enrique - he is alive - replaced Sterling a few minutes ago.

89 min: Lamela wins a corner for Tottenham on the left. Before it can be taken, Moreno is booked for grabbing Townsend’s shirt.

88 min: “Interesting that Pochettino has bought an entire new defence (Dier, Fazio, Davies and Yedlin) to replace our garbage back line of last year (Rose, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Naughton), yet we started today with 75% of it still intact, and then only because Naughton is suspended (I shudder to think what Sterling would have done to him today),” says Christopher Swallow. “That said, Liverpool look great value, so as much as I feel like I’m stuck in Punxsutawney at the moment, hats off to them.”

87 min: It’s been so flat from Tottenham today. They haven’t had any urgency or pace at all. Liverpool look fitter than them.

83 min: Sturridge drops a shoulder on the edge of the area to fool Dembele but wonks his effort miles wide. He’d really like to score.

80 min: “When did Villas Boas return to Spurs as they appear to be playing like they did last season?” says Mark Judd. They haven’t been great. Liverpool have completely outplayed them. This will be a jolt for Pochettino.

78 min: Nikica Jelavic has pulled a goal back for Hull with 10 minutes to go. It’s Aston Villa 2-1 Hull.

76 min: “Liverpool look like scoring everytime Spurs attack, weird but true!” says John Glynn.

75 min: Sterling torments Dier, twisting this way and that, but the Tottenham right-back does just enough to force the Liverpool man to poke tamely at Lloris.

74 min: Raheem Sterling is booked for that miss a few moments ago a trip on Kaboul.

73 min: Tottenham give the ball away in defence for the 373rd time this afternoon. Sterling, the best player on the pitch, tees up Henderson, whose deflected shot from 18 yards is gathered by Lloris.

72 min: Ben Davies replaces Danny Rose, who’s gone down with thigh knack.

70 min: This is odd. Emre Can drives through the non-existent Tottenham midfield with ease and shuffles a pass to Sterling on the right of the area. He skips merrily past a gasping Vertonghen, past another defender, and then seems to want to walk the ball into the net. He should just shoot but keeps dribbling and dribbling and dribbling, hesitates, has a cup of tea, contemplates the meaning of life, mulls over his favourite emojis and then taps the ball straight at Lloris at around 1mph from six yards out.

69 min: Adebayor heads over the Liverpool bar. This has been a disappointing performance from Tottenham. “While that was a terrible first touch of the ball for Townsend (and by the way, where on earth was Dier as Moreno was gallivanting down Spurs’ right side ? I didn’t see him anywhere) it wasn’t as bad as Muhamed Besic yesterday who I maintain had the worst first first touch in Premier League history,” says JR in Illinois.

67 min: Sterling cuts in from the right and drills a shot past Vertonghen, forcing Lloris to scoop it behind for a corner. Liverpool aren’t done yet. From the corner, Lovren heads over.

64 min: Tottenham have to be careful now. This could get seriously embarrassing if they leave too much space for Liverpool to attack. Liverpool are lethal on the break.

61 min: Mario Balotelli’s afternoon is over. Lazar Markovic is on. Balotelli can be pleased with his contribution. Emre Can is also on for Joe Allen.

59 min: Tottenham make two changes, Andros Townsend and Mousa Dembele replacing Christian Eriksen and Nabil Bentaleb.

58 min: There’s not much is happening at the moment. It’s been pretty scrappy since Liverpool’s second goal.

55 min: Lamela skips past Manquillo on the left. Suddenly Liverpool are exposed and in trouble. But Lamela lets them off the hook with his low centre. It was intended for Chadli at the far post but Moreno was in the right position to cut it out.

54 min: A free-kick to Tottenham on the left, Balotelli fouling Lamela, whose delivery is headed well wide by Dier.

53 min: Adebayor wins a corner for Spurs on the left, bustling into the area and seeing his shot deflected wide. The corner s a waste though.

52 min: White Hart Lane is quiet, apart from the noise coming out of away end.

50 min: It was a bit of a soft tug by Dier on Allen but it was a foul. The young defender panicked and acted rashly.

46 min: There’s a short delay before we can resume, because Balotelli is doing his laces up. Fair enough. I think he’s changed boots. Eventually he sorts himself out and is ready to take the kick-off with Sturridge.

44 min: A corner to Liverpool on the right. Gerrard trots across to take it, causing several Tottenham fans to inform him that he let his country down. He brushes off the insults and pulls back a low corner for Balotelli - the old Anderton-Sheringham routine - who skies his volley.

42 min: Now Tottenham have had a shot on target. But it’s still 1-0 to Liverpool thanks to a fine save from Simon Mignolet. Both Lovren and Sakho went to challenge Adebayor for a header, which turned out to be a mistake when he won it and flicked it through to Chadli, who hammered a volley goalwards but too close to Mignolet, who parried it away for a corner.

41 min: They thought they might get one here after a blunder from Lovren sent Adebayor racing away down the left and into the area but the Croatian recovered magnificently to chase back and time his tackle perfectly to deny the Tottenham striker.

40 min: Tottenham haven’t had a shot on target yet.

39 min: Andreas Weimann has doubled title-chasing Aston Villa’s lead against Hull.

37 min: Phil Dowd uses a break in play to go back to an earlier incident and book Manquillo for a late challenge on Eriksen.

36 min: Tottenham’s defending has been awful at times. Sterling tries to set up Sturridge with a pass into the area. Kaboul is in the way but his clearance goes straight to Henderson on the right. He hangs a cross up to the far post where Moreno is arriving but his volley goes ... straight back to Henderson and the move dies a death.

33 min: “Afternoon Jacob,” says Simon McMahon. “I know you weren’t being entirely serious on 18 minutes, but wouldn’t it be great if Villa, or Swansea, or in fact anyone other than the ‘Big Four’ were still in with a shout come April? It’s not going to happen though, is it? Which is a shame, on many levels.”

31 min: Mario Balotelli wastes another good chance but it must be said it was hold-up play that led to the opportunity in the first place. He shrugged off Kaboul effortlessly and tried to send Sturridge through on goal. Dier looked to have it covered but Lloris - the ultimate sweeper-keeper- came charging out to lend a helping hand, only to knock his clearance straight to Balotelli. He took a touch, eyed the empty net and then walloped a volley miles wide from 30 yards. He got that all wrong, but he’s playing well. He just needs the finish. In the background, a smiling Brendan Rodgers applauds the ambition.

30 min: Balotelli backheels the ball to Sturridge. He opens up his body and wraps his left foot around a curling effort from 25 yards that looks destined for the far corner, only for Lloris to fly to his right to make a plunging save.

28 min: A neat swerve from Eriksen opens up the space for him to feed a pass inside to Rose, but the less said about his shot from the edge of the area, the better. Meanwhile here are some pictures from White Hart Lane, lovingly compiled just for you.

27 min: “I’m very sad to see Agger go, and disappointed that he’s (trying not to sound patronising, but let’s be realistic) taken a step down,” says Matt Dony. “He’s such a good footballer, and on the face of it, always seemed to me like the defender most suited to Rodgers’ style. Maybe Brendan knows a bit more than me, though, which goes some way towards explaining why I’m consistently overlooked for the top management jobs.”

26 min: Allen is booked for cynically tugging Lamela back.

25 min: Henderson wins the ball in Liverpool’s half and then pings a pass through to Balotelli on the left. He hares after it but as he reaches the ball, Dier comes steaming through him from the side to concede a throw, taking man and ball in the process. Balotelli looks stricken for a moment and Phil Dowd has a pause to think about whether that was too robust from Dier. Eventually he decides against penalising the Tottenham right-back. Balotelli looks miffed but he keeps a lid on it.

23 min: Then again. Under no pressure, Sakho drops his team in it with a dreadful pass out from the back. Instantly the ball is knocked through to Adebayor, but he can’t beat Lovren, coming across to cover well for Sakho. He concedes a corner but Tottenham can’t do anything with it.

22 min: Tottenham haven’t really got going since the Liverpool goal. They’re struggling to deal with Liverpool’s pressing. Even Balotelli’s getting involved, chasing back in his own half to hound Adebayor into conceding possession.

21 min: Liverpool are happily stroking the ball around between themselves in midfield. Until Gerrard bangs a 60-yard pass out for a throw.

18 min: Gabby Agbonlahor has made it Aston Villa 1-0 Hull. Are Villa going to win the league? They’ll be right up there if they win that game.

16 min: Liverpool are out-pressing Tottenham, who are putting themselves in trouble with slack passing in their own half.

14 min: Gerrard curls the ball to the far post and Balotelli outmuscles Rose, only to head wide from six yards. Again, he should have scored. What a let-off for Tottenham. They could be three down. The Tottenham fans would quite like it if their defence woke up.

13 min: Balotelli puts himself about strongly to help a ball down the line on the left and Dier pulls Sturridge down. A free-kick to Liverpool and Gerrard is interested.

12 min: Liverpool are on fire going forward. The brilliant Sterling emerges from a midfield cul-de-sac with the ball, wriggling clear of two players and then finding Sturridge with a pass through the middle. He held off a challenge from Vertonghen and then swept a shot just wide from 20 yards. Liverpool are enjoying playing against Tottenham’s high line.

9 min: Tottenham should be level, straight from the kick-off. A long ball over the top caught the Liverpool defence cold and it came to Adebayor. He brought it down and spotted the advancing Mignolet off his line but his lob dropped on to the roof of the net.

6 min: Dier’s awkward low ball from the right is put behind for a corner by Gerrard. It’s been a breathless start from both starts. Eriksen goes across to take the corner and sends it to the near post, where Chadli flicks a header off-target.

4 min: Now it’s Liverpool’s turn to threaten, a ball sprayed in behind Manquillo for Lamela to chase. Mignolet speeds off his line to gather but not too convincingly. He pats the ball against Lamela’s knee and is grateful to see it run behind for a goal-kick.

3 min: Balotelli almost scores with his first touch! To be honest, he should have done. Liverpool attacked down the left, Sturridge and Sterling weaving pretty plans outside the Tottenham area. Eventually Sturridge curled a cross into the six-yard box where Balotelli rose highest to meet the ball with a header that really should have given Lloris no chance. But he put it too close to Lloris, who pushed it out. The rebound fel to him but he couldn’t adjust his feet in time and he could only bundle it wide.

And we’re off! Tottenham get the ball rolling, kicking from right to left in the first half. Their supporters are in fine voice. They’re singing about going marching in and wanting to be in that number

Here come the teams. Eleven Tottenham players walk out. But only 10 Liverpool players. Where’s Mario? Mario’s not there! Where’s he gone? What’s he up to? He can’t be left on his own. The Liverpool players walk out - and then, keeping his distance, Balotelli jogs out with a big grin on his face. That can’t be good. “Can we just say something nice about Agger before this all kicks off?” pleads Sean O. “He gave everything and always left it all on the field. Including more than his share of teeth.”

Jamie Redknapp has just been attacked by a wasp. That was great television.

“My favourite players have always been mercurial,” notes Gustaf Borelius-Larson. “Berbatov could produce the most exceptional dribble only to fall over his own feet in the box, with mario it’s more a case of scoring and then struggling to put his shirt back on after celebrating.”

“e: the Balotelli Rorschach test, I’m going for loveable jester with a heart of gold,” says Harry Tuttle. “In order to sort the wheat from the chaff, I’m hoping Super Mario is clearly overexcited today and gets a stupid red card at a pivotal moment. That will sort the doubters from the beliebers. Let’s talk about him all week, Jacob!”