Last November Spurs beat Liverpool 2-1 at White Hart Lane just after Harry Redknapp took over a side that had slumped to the bottom of the table. Redknapp admitted after that game that Spurs had been lucky to win after being battered by Liverpool, who squandered an early lead and then hit the woodwork three times before losing.

Spurs beat Liverpool 2-1 at White Hart Lane again on Sunday and this time there was no doubting that Spurs deserved their victory.

On the evidence of Sunday’s match a lot has changed at the two clubs since last November.

Spurs have clearly improved but fans have witnessed so many false dawns in the last 10 years or so that no one will get carried away by an opening day win — even over last season’s runners-up.

Likewise, Liverpool will not descend into doom and gloom at one opening day defeat but what is undeniable — and this began to be obvious in their pre-season matches — is that Liverpool are badly missing their gifted Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso, sold for 30 million pounds to Real Madrid.

Liverpool failed to get the ball to Steven Gerrard as often as often as they used to when Alonso was distributing the ball, after putting his foot on it and finding the perfect pass.

Up front Fernando Torres looked jaded – he has hardly had a break after playing for Spain in the Confederations Cup — and Liverpool rarely threatened Spurs with a decisive attack.

The fact that Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel clashed heads with each other going up for a high ball in the first half was not the only reason Liverpool’s defence seemed disorientated, as young Argentine fullback Emiliano Insua was given a roasting by the pace of Aaron Lennon on the right wing.

Their bench looked devoid of depth too and generally Liverpool had an afternoon they will certainly want to forget, but one which may resonate for a few weeks yet.

It is now almost 20 seasons since Liverpool were last champions of England — the longest run they have ever had between winning titles (not including the break of competition for World War Two) since they entered the League in 1893.

They are desperate to be champions again — and stop Manchester United winning an unprecedented fourth successive title and an all-time record 19th.

Clearly they are still championship contenders. But they won’t be if they produce too many displays like Sunday’s at White Hart Lane. Benitez needs to strengthen now — but financial restraints off the pitch could yet add to his headaches.

PHOTO: Xabi Alonso waves as he leaves the pitch during Real Madrid’s friendly against Real Sociedad at the Anoeta stadium in San Sebastian, August 15, 2009. REUTERS/Felix Ordonez

Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs was voted Player of the Year for the first time by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) on Sunday.

Giggs has only made 12 Premier League starts this season, scoring a single goal, so I guess we really have to look at this award as recognition for his long years of service at United, for whom he’s made just shy of 800 appearances.

United players dominated the shortlist for the award and there will be no complaints from Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo or Edwin van der Sar. Perhaps Steven Gerrard has reason to be disappointed but in a season without the sort of candidate you just can’t argue with, perhaps a touch of sentimentality in the award is no bad thing…

And it will look good on the mantlepiece next to the 11th league championship medal that seems a certainty after Saturday’s thrilling win over Spurs.

PHOTO: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo (L) positions the ball before taking a shot in front of his teammate Ryan Giggs during their Champions League soccer match against Inter Milan at San Siro stadium in Milan February 24, 2009. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

In Spain, the sports papers refer to the exodus of players during international weeks as the ‘FIFA virus’ and it will be interesting to see if Spanish Liverpool can cope with its effects this weekend.

To recap, Liverpool were in spectacular form before the latest interruption to the domestic season, banging in 13 goals in three games against Real Madrid in the Champions League and Manchester United and Aston Villa in the Premier League.

The international break could not have come at a worse time for coach Rafa Benitez. Sure, there was more good news on Friday as the club announced captain Steven Gerrard had signed a contract extension that will tie him to the club until 2013 but the euphoric mood will be punctured if they do not win away at Fulham on Saturday.

Victory in that game would put them top for at last one night as United, who hold a one-point lead with a game in hand, are not in action until they host Villa on Sunday.

Alex Ferguson might have been more grateful for the break, and a chance to regroup after successive defeats by Liverpool and Fulham.

PHOTO: Steven Gerrard leaves Liverpool Crown court after appearing charged with affray, Liverpool, northern England April 3, 2009. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

We all have those items that we simply cannot afford to lose, your wallet, phone, house keys, mp3 player etc, but for Rafa Benitez he will have to find space in his thoughts, if not on the bedside table, for his priceless Spanish striker Fernando Torres.

Bentitez’s willingness to allow Robbie Keane to return to Tottenham after only a few dismal months rather than stick with the Irishman, a proven goalscorer in the Premier league, leaves Liverpool desperately short of striking options, should Torres lose form or fitness in the title run in.

Dirk Kuyt has plugged the gap on the right wing well, but the man who started his career as a striker looked woeful when recast in the old fashioned number nine role during the 0-0 away draw with struggling Stoke.

Ryan Babel has not impressed much lately and youngsters David Ngog and Nabil El Zhar seem some way short of what is required to win a Premier League or Champions League title.

The loss of Steven Gerrard to injury early during the FA Cup replay at Goodison Park (how costly will that prove?) would have been the perfect opportunity to play Keane in his favoured second striker role, but instead we saw Yossi Benayoun come on.

Perhaps Rafa has seen how well arch rivals Everton have been doing recently (one defeat in 11 matches) playing a 4-6-0 formation following injuries to their gaggle of attackers.

Looking ahead to the Portsmouth match on Saturday, and beyond to the end of the season, I expect Rafa to revert back to his tinkering ways. Torres may well play this weekend, but I expect he’ll be in and out of the side for subsequent games. Protecting him from injury must now be the prime concern for Benitez.

How the Spanish coach must envy the striking riches available over at Manchester United, with Tevez, Berbatov, Ronaldo and Rooney, and Arsenal, who now have Arshavin to complement Adebayor, Van Persie and a nearly fit Eduardo.

PHOTO: Fernando Torres kneels during Liverpool’s FA Cup fourth round replay against Everton, Feb. 4, 2009. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Liverpool seem to have got through their sticky patch and continued failures from Chelsea and Arsenal have limited the damage.

After convincing wins over Bolton and Newcastle Liverpool are clear at the top of the table and will stay there going into 2009.

So is it going to be a happy new year for Liverpool fans? I blogged  the other day about (what seems to me) Liverpool’s need for another forward or midfielder with the wow factor but Steven Gerrard seems to be playing that role to perfection just at the moment. Can he carry on in this form until the end of the season?

Liverpool’s biggest problem, of course, is the prospect of Manchester United continuing their ominous rise up the table. United have three games in hand and if they win all three they’ll be within a point of the top.

But still, optimism is creeping in. Here’s how Kai at the Liverpool Offside put it after the Newcastle win:

“And so with Chel$ki held to a 2-2 draw at Craven Cottage, we are 3 points clear heading into 2009!! I’m strangely starting to believe we might just nick it this year.”

redfloyd at Have You Ever Been to Liverpool? sounds more cautious in his report on the game:

“This can only be good for the team’s confidence going into the long home straight. Although we are top we have, with one or two exceptions, achieved this through perspiration rather than inspiration, in short we haven’t really got going. Perhaps the last two games are a first sign of us starting to put our foot on the accelerator? However, it is still a long, long treacherous journey. God speed!”

I think that’s about right, in that this season they have gone top while hardly ever playing really well. If the Newcastle performance is a sign of things to come, who knows?

So what do you think? Can Liverpool stay clear and get that first title since 1990? Or have they just delayed the inevitable slide away from the top two?

Both are English, both are midfielders, both are top performers in the Premier League, both can’t play together for England…. Sound familiar?

The dilemma that seems a permanent thorn in any England manager’s side has reared its ugly head once more; how do you get Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to play well together.

England’s World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan on Saturday look set to hand Chelsea’s Lampard and Liverpool’s Gerrard yet another chance to remedy the problem, but what can Fabio Capello do differently to make it work this time?

This week Lampard finally caught up with the rest of the nation in admitting that if he and Gerrard had managed to thread a pass to one another in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, England may have reached the finals in Austria and Switzerland.

However, he says the difference this time is tactics.

It appears the tactical leadership of former England managers Sven Goran-Eriksson and Steve McClaren stretched as far as ‘when one goes, the other one stays,’ but with Capello Lampard seems more comfortable with what is being asked of him.

So maybe that is it. Lampard and Gerrard, both all-round inspirations at club level, need to be told what to do when they pull on an England shirt. It all seems so simple now doesn’t it?

Do you think that Lampard is making excuses simply to maintain his England place, or is Capello a genius about to unleash both players’ club form upon a soon to be sorry Kazakhstan?

Personally, I’d rather have Gerrard in the centre with Gareth Barry or failing that Jimmy Bullard!

PHOTO: England’s Gerrard and Lampard attend a team training session in London Colney, Oct. 7 REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

If Liverpool are serious about a title challenge, and there hasn’t been much evidence to support their case yet, they should prove it by shrugging off their inferiority complex when it comes to playing Manchester United.

Long after Manchester United had usurped Liverpool as England’s top club, there was still a feeling at Anfield that they were at least equal to their chief rivals when it came to a one-off game.

When Roy Evans was in charge, and players like Jamie Redknapp and John Barnes were in the Liverpool midfield, they would try to impose their own game, even if the result would sometimes be defeat.

Since the days of Gerard Houllier, things have been different. Houllier enjoyed a good record against United but it was achieved by shifting the emphasis to watertight defence and strict tactical discipline in those games.

That has continued under Rafa Benitez and Liverpool will doubtless go into Saturday’s game at Anfield bent on denying space to United’s dangerous forwards and hoping for the best on the break or from a set-piece (while getting a European Cup-style boost from the crowd).

I argued earlier this week that England should shake off their fear of failure and they seemed to do that against Croatia. Can Liverpool do the same? Can they go out in front of their own fans and play against (a superior) United side with their old sense of belief?

I’d argue that they should do, even if they risk a hiding if United play to their potential. It’s a tactic Steven Gerrard appeared to be urging as well when he spoke this week:

“Over the last couple of years we’ve gone into games against United and Chelsea very organised tactically - defensive if you like - and still lost 1-0,” Gerrard said. “It’s important a few risks are taken to try to score that goal against these teams because it gives you such a psychological boost.”

Gerrard may miss the game through injury but the players out there should heed those words. If Liverpool are serious about challenging for the title they should play like they mean it.

PHOTO: Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard controls the ball during a training session at Melwood, August 26, 2008. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis