Micky van de Ven credits Liverpool response to having two players sent off

Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven praised Liverpool’s performance with nine players during Saturday’s controversial Premier League showdown.

Spurs ran out 2-1 winners thanks to a 96th-minute own goal from Joel Matip. Son Heung-min gave the hosts the lead in the first half, turning home Richarlison’s centre, before Cody Gakpo equalised from close-range just before the break.

Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota received red cards in either half, but the real point of contention came with the game at 0-0 and Liverpool only down to ten men.

Luis Diaz found the back of the net shortly after Jones’ dismissal but was denied by an offside flag. However, replays showed the Colombian was clearly onside and the goal should have stood, but miscommunication between referee Simon Hooper and VAR Darren England led to it remaining disallowed.

There has been significant uproar in the days that have followed – including a statement from Liverpool calling for “vital improvements” to be made to VAR processes – and that has seen the performance of the nine players somewhat fade into the background.

Speaking post-match, Spurs centre-back Van de Ven was pleased with how he and his teammates were able to snatch the win in the end, but admitted he was impressed by Liverpool.

“It’s really good in the dressing room. I think the mentality of the whole team was really good,” the Dutchman said. “We kept pushing, pushing and pushing and of course sometimes you think it’s going to be easier when they get the red card or maybe two red cards, but you see against Liverpool they are really good team.

“They made it even harder when they have ten people, nine people, on the pitch but we kept pushing until the last minute and we scored the winning goal.”

Van de Ven also played down of Spurs being contenders for the Premier League title, saying: “It’s early to say. But hopefully we can keep pushing now and we are going to see where it’s going to end.

“It’s early to say if we are title candidates this year but we will keep pushing, keep pushing and we’re going to see. We want the best this season so we’re going to see where it will end.

“We are not afraid of any team. We will keep playing our way and hopefully we can improve even more from how we are playing now and hopefully we can keep pushing

Defeat for Liverpool ended their 19-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, with red cards against Bournemouth and Newcastle United earlier in the season not affecting the overall result for Jurgen Klopp’s side.