Liverpool will look to respond to their Premier League setback to Manchester United with a resounding performance and victory when they face Tottenham in the Carabao Cup first leg on Wednesday – with memories of their big win there last month still lingering are fresh in your mind.

The stats suggest the Reds will cause serious problems for Spurs’ weakened defense – just as they did when they scored six goals in north London in December.

Liverpool may have suffered a 2-2 draw against Manchester United on Sunday, but they once again put in a menacing attacking performance with 19 shots on goal at Anfield.

In fact, their expected goals total of 2.8 means they are averaging 2.36xG per game in the Premier League this season.

That’s by far the most of any team in the division.

It’s so impressive that Jürgen Klopp only exceeded this figure once in the entire season during his tenure as manager.

It will be interesting to see how Arne Slot sets up his team for this first leg, but he has a full range of attacking options to choose from.

This season’s top attacker, Mohamed Salah, who scored twice for Spurs in December, will no doubt be doing everything he can to play his part and win the title in what he says will be his final year at the club. He started the 6-3 league win at Spurs alongside the in-form Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, who also scored a brace for Spurs.

The fit-again Diogo Jota will also compete with Darwin Nunez for a share, while Federico Chiesa will be keen to make a late impact.

How Spurs’ Ange Postecoglou would like to have such selection problems.

His team’s absence list is in the double figures, but there is cause for concern in defense ahead of this important cup game.

The last time Liverpool came to the city they were completely devastated and the situation has since worsened rather than eased.

The 2-1 defeat to Newcastle on Saturday reflected the current problems in defense.

Substitute goalkeeper Fraser Forster was knocked out by a bug, which also affected centre-backs Archie Gray and Radu Dragusin, who were substituted at half-time. Regular left-back Destiny Udogie is still out due to injury and his replacement Djed Spence was later forced to step in at centre-back.

First-choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven remain unavailable and Ben Davies remains unavailable.

Newcastle took advantage. They scored two points with an overall xG value of 2.45.

This is the fifth time Spurs have allowed an opposing team to go over the 2xG mark this season. In any case, injuries have occurred in the last nine games.

In fact, only bottom club Southampton have recorded more xG goals in the Premier League since November.

The number of goals conceded, shots taken and xG items has been at stake for Spurs in recent months as they struggle with deficits.

The hope will be that Fraser, Dragusin and Gray shake off the illness that has dogged them before this match. In midfield, Rodrigo Bentancur will be back after his suspension. But another humiliating defeat to a hungry Liverpool attack will strike fear into the hearts of Spurs fans heading to the stadium on Wednesday night.

How Tottenham could hurt Liverpool…

And yet, perhaps there is hope on the other end.

Spurs scored three goals against Liverpool in the chaos of this pre-Christmas clash, although goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke came late after James Maddison’s first-half strike.

Slot pointed out how United’s transition play was damaging his team at Anfield – just as Nottingham Forest and Fulham had done there.

While Spurs won’t be leaning back in the same way as clubs on their away days on Merseyside, Postecoglou’s men are third in the Premier League in terms of direct attacks and fourth in terms of direct attacks direct acceleration on the field. It is this rapid transition from back to front that defines Postecoglou’s style – and which has proven to unsettle Liverpool’s backline this season.

Spurs don’t play as many long balls per game as Fulham (49), United (49) and Forest (50), with an average of just 32 this season. So the question will be whether, given their injury problems, they can combine the physicality and passing precision necessary to break through Liverpool on the counterattack.

Certainly Tottenham fans will be hoping that for the second time in a week an opposing team can get an unexpected result against Slot’s Liverpool side.