View: Tottenham midfielder reaffirms his role in Liverpool draw - here's why

Tottenham Hotspur did their Premier League survival chances the world of good at Anfield on Sunday.

With both West Ham and Nottingham Forest picking up draws over the weekend, it was crucial that Tottenham at least matched those results when tackling a tough away test against Liverpool on Sunday.

And, as the clock reached 90 minutes, it looked as though that wasn’t going to be the case, as Igor Tudor was staring at a fifth-straight loss as Spurs’ interim head coach with Arne Slot’s side leading 1-0.

However, a dramatic late equaliser from Richarlison earned Tottenham a precious point against Liverpool, and gave the Lilywhites something to build on heading into a massive relegation six-pointer against Forest on 22 March.

Pape Sarr was superb for Tottenham in Liverpool draw

Pape Sarr took heavy criticism for his Atletico Madrid performance on 10 March, as he played the full 90 minutes in the 5-2 defeat in their Champions League Round-of-16 first leg tie.

The 23-year-old central midfielder has been in and out of Spurs’ starting lineup this season, with 12 starts from his 21 Premier League appearances this term.

However, he kept his place in Tudor’s team for the trip to Anfield, and he certainly repaid the faith shown in him by his under-pressure manager.

As per Sofascore, Sarr completed both of his two dribble attempts successfully, made 17 carries with the ball, took 67 touches in the game and only one unsuccessful touch respectively.

He also made nine recoveries, cleared the ball four times, made two interceptions and eight defensive contributions against the Reds.

Overall, Sarr was Tottenham’s midfield metronome at Anfield, keeping things tidy whilst also driving Spurs forward whenever he could, as he looked every bit of a top-class player in his position on Sunday.

Tottenham are going to need Sarr in relegation battle

With injuries to Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, James Maddison, Joao Palhinha and Yves Bissouma respectively, Tottenham’s central midfield options have been decimated.

Conor Gallagher was also unable to recover from his fever in time to play against Liverpool, forcing Tudor to deploy a central midfield pairing of Sarr and Archie Gray.

However, that looks to be no bad thing, as Gray is a central midfielder by trade, but has been forced to play in defence for significant periods of both his Tottenham, and Leeds United careers respectively.

At Anfield though, these two looked like a very strong and exciting pairing indeed, with Sarr in particular showing his class: which Tottenham are going to need plenty more of from him this season.

If Spurs are going to stay up this season, they need to start taking greater control of football matches, but that can’t really be done if they’re losing the midfield battle every week.

Sarr, however, showed that he can run a game in the middle of the park against Liverpool, as he didn’t allow their talented midfield department to overrun Spurs in that area.

Tottenham are going to need Sarr a lot between now and the end of the campaign, as the weight of running Spurs’ midfield looks set to rest largely on his shoulders due to the injury crisis they’re facing.

The post View: Tottenham midfielder reaffirms his role in Liverpool draw - here's why appeared first on Tottenham Hotspur News.