Jeremie Frimpong: Despite not getting deliberately elbowed, Liverpool’s substituted substitue is still unhappy. As the players left the pitch, he engaged Hugo Ekitike in animated converation, repeatedly pointing to the very minor laceration on his lip. It would be fair to say that Ekitike doesn’t care. Perhaps Frimpong will get a more sympathetic audience from Alexander Isak, who in scoring Liverpool’s opener sustained an ankle injury that looked as if it might keep him sidelined for quite some time.

Here’s a question: On the Guardian subs’ desk, Tim Knowles has noticed that Conor Bradley was replaced by Alexander Isak, who was subsequently replaced by Jeremie Frimpong, who was then replaced by Federico Chiesa. “Has the sub of a sub ever been subbed off before?” he and reader Richard Hirst ask. It’s one for the Christmas dinner table, if things get quiet.

An email: “I’ve heard of desperately getting Christmas cards in before it’s too late but Spurs have taken it to a new level,” writes Peter Oh, who appears to have hit a rich vein of form which almost certainly won’t last. “Merry Christmas,” he adds, a sentiment I would like to echo to all our readers.

90+10 min: We’re into time for assorted other kitchen fittings added on to kitchen sink time and Spurs have a free-kick inside their own half. Vicario launches the ball, it’s half-cleared and Odobert sends a cross flashing across the face of the Liverpool goal. Alisson paws the ball away before anyone in a white shirt can connect with it. It’s all over and Liverpool have won against nine-man Spurs!

90+9 min: Liverpool double-substitution: Andy Robertson and Trey Nyoni replace Ekitike and Wirtz.

90+7 min: Odobert is booked., Mac Allister is booked. A lot of players on this pitch seem to be hoping for Christmas off but so far it’s just Frimpong, Szoboszlai and Romero who will have free rein to get stuck into the turkey, hame, roasties and mince pies.

90+6 min: A low Porro shot at the near post takes anick off Kerkez and needs some saving by Alisson.

90+4 min: Porro takes the ree-kick won by the recently departed Romero and Alisson saves with a minimum of fuss. I must say, this is tremendous fun.

90+2 min: From looking home and hosed, Liverpool seem quite panicked and now Romero and Konate have a mini-tussle after the visiting defender clambers all over the Argentinian’s back. And Romero has been sent off!!!

90+1 min: We’ll have nine minutes of added time and Tottenham’s players smell blood. Metaphorical blood, I hasten to add. Not the few drops of claret just spilled by Jeremie Frimpong.

88 min: Frimpong goes down, claiming to have been elbowed by Richarlison. He’s bleeding from his lip but replays show that while the Brazilian may have caught him with a flailing arm, there was zero intent. Liverpool substitution: having completely lost his head, a furious, crowd-baiting Frimpong is replaced by Federico Chiesa.

86 min: From holding a seemingly unassailable lead against 10 men, Liverpool are all over the place! Curtis Jones loses the ball and Pedro Porro plays Richarlison through on goal. He’s not the quickest, three Liverpool defenders scramble back in desperation and Konate blocks his shot. That was close – Spurs win another corner, which Porro wastes.

81 min: Richarlison immediately wins a free-kick, which Porro curls into the Liverpool box. Van Dijk puts the ball out for a corner.

80 min: Spurs substitution: Richarlison on, Kolo Muani off.

79 min: Ibrahimma Konate has his name taken for a foul on Randal Kolo Muani, prompting presumably ironic cheers from the home crowd for the referee. They’ve had precious little else to cheer about this evening.

75 min: “Is there a rule I wasn’t aware of where a foul doesn’t get considered for a card if the player you’re fouling scores?” asks Tom of the challenge on Isak as he fired goalwards. “Under any other circumstances and anywhere else ok the pitch, that challenge by Van de Ven is at least being looked at.”

Well, everything is looked at these days but if it was a foul and one worth no more than a yellow, then my understanding is that VAR are allowed to intervene. I’d need to check but I’m a bit busy at the moment!

73 min: Liverpool turn the screw and Florian Wirtz misses an extremely presentable chance with a far post volley across the face of goal after some excellent build-up play from Szoboszlai and Frimpong. The flag goes up and his blushes are spared.

71 min: Spurs double-substitution: Wilson Odobert and Joao Palhinha on for Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.

69 min: There’s a yellow card for somebody on the Spurs bench, possibly Frank or one of his assistants.

66 min: Spurs go close to nabbing an equaliser when a Muani shot takes a wicked delfection, loops over Alisson and caresses the cross bar. I thought that was going to drop into the goal!

63 min: So, back to that goal. Romero gave the ball away with an inexplicably bad pass that was intercepted by Wirtz. The Argentinian then compounded his error by charging out to try and retrieve the ball, leaving a gaping hole in the Spurs defence. Wirtz promptly took advantage, sliding the ball through to Isak, whose finish was as tidy as it was costly. It looks like he might have suffered a serious ankle injury as a result of Micky van de Ven’s last-ditch effort to prevent him shooting.

62 min: Tottenham substitution just after the goal: Brennan Johnson on for Mohammed Kudus.

59 min: Micky van de Ven slid in to try and block just as Isak pulled the trigger and he caught the Liverpool striker’s ankle in a kind of scissors motion between his two meaty thighs. The stretcher comes on but Isak elects to limp off with the assistance of two medics. He’s replaced by Jeremie Frimpong.

54 min: Liverpool win a corner. Szoboszlai hits the ball long past the far post, it finds its way to Curtis Jones and moments later Isak goes to ground, writhing in pain after Bentancur had caught him on the inner thigh while following through as he hacked the ball clear. It’s technically not a foul but it looks like it ought to be.

52 min: A vaguely promising move (it’s all relative!) upfield involving Muani, Bergvall and Spence breaks down when the Englishman runs into traffic and loses the ball.

50 min: Porro breaks upfield and slides the ball wide to Kudus on the right. He looks up to survey his options and … passes the ball backwards. The groan from the crowd is audiable. It’s worth noting that Tottenham were at this sort of resolutely unambitious craic even before the first half dismissal of Xavi Simons.

48 min: Florian Wirtz picks out a Kerkez run to the byline but the Hungarian international’s pull-back into the penalty area is intercepted and cleared by Archie Gray. Spurs are immediately under the cosh in this second half.

47 min: A Szoboszlai cross into the Spurs box is headed clear by Micky van de Ven.

An email: “Did Spurs already fire their manager and hire Diego Simone when we weren’t looking?” asks Richard McGahey. “The level of cynical, physical play is quite something.”

More punditry: “I don’t think that was a red,” writes Peter Oh. “At most, the clumsy challenge by one Dutch international on another deserved an Oranje.” Boom!

Oranje Boom, geddit?

An email: Tottenham fan Nico is here to defend the indefensible. “As a Spurs fan I do believe that challenge is stupid, reckless and a probably a red card to some,” he begins and you know what b-word is coming next. “But also looks far worse in slo-mo than it actually is. A yellow was enough for the ref and there isn’t any evidence to suggest a ‘clear and obvious error’.

“I believe playing replays to the on-field official in real time means we will see less on-field decisions overturned with no further communication from the (tossing) VAR, and removes the pantomime of the ref jogging over to waste minutes of the fans’ time for a foregone conclusion.

“Can we either just overturn the decision and save the sanity of everyone involved or ask the grown-up question, how is repeated slow motion replays with a person in your ear saying ‘you’ve got this wrong’ a fair review?”

I mean, Tottenham’s players have been wasting hours on end of their fans’ time at their own stadium for well over a year now but if you want to get stuck into the ref for hijacking 60 seconds of it in order to show a red card that could not be more justified, fill your boots. Interestingly, on Sky’s coverage, Daniel Sturridge concurs with the “looks worse in slo-mo” defence, then follows up with the “he’s not that kind of player” doozie. You love to see it!

45+5 min: Liverpool corner. Szoboszlai’s corner is half-cleared towards Wirtz, whose piledriver is blocked by Rodrgio Bentancur. It’s half-time.

45+4 min: Vicario makes a mess of a clearance and looks accusingly at the turf. Spurs get away with it and clear the ball, despite their own pitch appearing to join the referee and the media in conspiring against them.

45+2 min: Bradley continues to receive treatment with referee John Brooks and Alisson looking on. He gets to his feet and limps to the touchline before being summoned back on.

45 min: Spence picks Bradley’s pocket and canters up the inside left. He advances towards the Liverpool penalty area and goes down under a “challenge” from the backtrackling Liverpool full-back. Despite Spence’s appeals for a penalty, it was no more than an accidental collision. Bradley remains on the floor receiving treatment.

43 min: Another Liverpool corner leads to a Spurs counter-attack, this one begun by Romero and ended when Bergvall runs into retreating traffic. Spurs are playing (even) more defensively since Simons’ dismissal but are looking very dangerous on the break.

40 min: Liverpool corner. Sobozslai’s inswinger is punched clear by Vicario, who sends Kudus on his way. He picks out Porro with a crossfield pass but the Spaniard’s cross into the Liverpool penalty area is a little wild and too powerful for Djed Spence to connect with.

38 min: Alisson wins a 50-50 ball with Muani, is unable to hold on to it and then has to win another 50-50 with Kudus after the ball is hoyed towards no-mans land near the edge of the Liverpool box. Good(ish) goalkeeping.

37 min: Florian Wirtz plays a give and go with Kerkez before ferreting his way into the Tottenham penalty area and pulling the ball back towards Ekitike. Spurs clear before he can get a shot away.

34 min: The only scant consolation for Tottenham is that Simons might as well not have been on the field for the opening half-hour. That snide, nasty, completely needless foul on Van Dijk was his first contribution of note since he got the ball rolling at kick-off. On the plus side for Simons, he gets Christmas and the new year off.

30 min: Quite deservedly, Xavi Simmons is booked for raking his studs down the back of Virgil van Dijk’s calf and achilles after the Liverpool defender had given him the slip. That might be upgraded to a red and he can have no complaints if that’s the case. There’s an onfield review of a daft challenge!

27 min: With plenty of goal to aim at, Randal Kolo Muani heads weakly and straight at Alisson after connecting with a Djed Spence ball back across the face of goal from a Pedro Porro cross. That’s a bad miss.

25 min: Both goalkeepers are taking aeons over their goal-kicks, splitting their central defenders, passing the ball to one of them and then all three just stand around over the dead ball waiting Emi Martinez style for an opposition press that never comes. The cheapest adult season ticket prices at Tottenham are £856, in case you’d like to go and watch this nonsense on a regular basis.

21 min: Alert to impending danger, Micky van de Ven sprints out towards the left flank to prevent Ekitike controlling a low Florian Wirtz pass from deep. He puts the ball out for a throw-in. Liverpool win a corner but nothing comes of it. A vaguely promising Spurs counter-attack breaks down when Lucas Bergvall elects to turn and pass the ball backwards despite having teammates up in support. Like I said, cautious.

19 min: Djed Spence advances up the inside left and cuts inside Conor Bradley, who slips to give his opposite number a clear run on goal. The Spurs full-back is penalised for a foul and reacts furiously. He had found himself in a very promising position on the left side of the Liverpool box.

18 min: Spurs advance, with Liverpool’s players refusing to be drawn towards them in any sort of press. Pedestrian is probably the most apt term to describe the pace at which this match is currently being played. Both teams are being extremely cautious.

16 min: Porro launches the ball upfield and it’s trapped expertly by Kudus, who immediately undoes his good work by tripping over it. He had a couple of men in white shirts up in support.

15 min: Kudus picks out a Porro overlap and the Spaniard’s whipped cross from the right is headed well wide by Kolo Muani at the near post.

11 min: Florian Wirtz plays the ball out wide to Bradley, who overhits his cross into the Spurs penalty area. Spurs clear but referee John Brooks whistles for a foul when Mohammed Kudus leaps into Alexis Mac Allister without making any real effort to contest a high ball. Virgil van Dijk outjumps Micky van de Ven to meet Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick but nods the ball straight at Vicario.

8 min: Ibrahima Konate tries to send Ekitike on his way with a long ball forward from deep. Christian Romero has the Liverpool striker’s measure but does appear to wrestle him to the ground right on the edge of the Tottenham Hotspur penalty area. It was definitely a foul but no free-kick or penalty is awarded to the visitors.

7 min: Both sides are tentatively feeling their way into the game, which is a polite way of saying the opening few minutes have been extremely dull.

5 min: A cross from the right into the Liverpool penalty area is only half-cleared by Bradley and breaks kindly for Randal Kolo Muani in the penalty area. His snap shot is subsequently blocked by Liverpool’s young Northern Ireland international.

3 min: Hugo Ekitike goes down, holding his face after being caught by a stray right arm from Djed Spence as he gave the Liverpool striker the slip. There was no malice intended but it looked quite painful. He gets treatment and is OK to continue.

2 min: The ball’s played down the left touchline for Milos Kerkez to chase and he whips a low cross into the Tottenham penalty area. It fails to clear the first defender.

Not long now: Soundtracked by Duel of the Fates by John Williams and led by John Brooks and his team of match officials, both sets of players march on to the pitch and line up ahead of kick-off, which is just a couple of minutes away.

Together Against Suicide: Christmas can be an extremely difficult time of year for many people and it’s encouraging to see Tottenham’s players wearing special T-shirts during their warm-up.

They have “Together Against Suicide” printed on the front and the number of the Samaritans (116-123, for those in the UK) on the back. “Through Together Against Suicide, the Premier League and its clubs are supporting fans affected by suicide or suicidal thoughts,” reads the top flight’s website.

“Working in partnership with suicide prevention charity Samaritans, the League is committed to helping fans that need it most, with confidential support. Every suicide is a tragedy. Together we can make a difference.”

• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Premier League table: Manchester City’s 3-0 win over West Ham means they leapfrog Arsenal to go top of the table for a few hours at least. Having started the day in seventh and 11th places respectively, results earlier this afternoon mean Liverpool drop to eighth and Tottenham Hotspur are now 13th ahead of kick-off in North London.

• View the Premier League table

Liverpool: Curtis Jones has revealed Mo Salah apologised to the Liverpool squad for the fallout from his interview criticising the club and Arne Slot before hightailing it to Morocco for Afcon. Andy Hunter reports …

Tottenham Hotspur: Thomas Frank has asked for time and patience from Tottenham fans who are increasingly frustrated by his team’s stodgy performances. Whether or not he is given either could well hinge on the performance of his team in tonight’s match, whatever the result. David Hytner reports …

Today’s match officials

• Referee: John Brooks

• Assistants: Simon Bennett and James Mainwaring

• Fourth official: Anthony Taylor

• VAR: Stuart Attwell

• Assistant VAR: Adam Nunn

Those teams: Hugo Ekitike starts up front for Liverpool, with Alexander Isak consigned to the bench for the third Premier League match in a row. Dominik Szoboszlai is fit enough to take his place in Liverpool’s midfield, while Conor Bradley returns from suspension to take his place at right-back. As expected, Jeremie Frimpong is among the substitutes.

Somewhat surprisingly, Thomas Frank makes just one change from the side that started against Nottingham Forest last weekend. Lucas Bergvall comes into midfield to facilitate Randal Kolo Muani’s move up front in place of Richarlison.

Early team news

James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke, Radu Dragusin and Koto Takai remain sidelined for Tottenham, while Pape Mater Sarr and Yves Bissouma are away at Afcon.

As previously mentioned, Mo Salah is also away in Morocco with Egypt, while Dominik Szoboszlai, who along with Pedro Porro is one booking away from getting Christmas off, will undergo a late fitness test on the ankle injury that forced him off the pitch during Liverpool’s win over Brighton last weekend.

Joe Gomez has been ruled out with a hamstring injury, while Wataru Endo, Cody Gakpo and Giovanni Leoni are also unavailable. Conor Bradley is back from suspension and Jeremie Frimpong has been passed fit and will be in the squad after two months out.