'He has been brilliant': Gary Neville left completely blown away by £37m Liverpool star against Tottenham

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Liverpool ran riot against Tottenham Hotspur by beating them 6-3 on Sunday.

Braces from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah accompanied by goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai meant Arne Slot’s side showed yet again why they are favourites to win the Premier League title.

Perhaps the scoreline does not reflect how dominant Liverpool were for much of the game.

While Tottenham battled on, particularly through Dejan Kulusevski, who seemed like a man on a mission for the hosts, their efforts were rendered futile.

Arne Slot, however will be over the moon that the Reds capitalised on Chelsea dropping points in their 0-0 draw against Everton with a dominant win.

As Gary Neville witnessed Liverpool tear Tottenham to shreds, he reserved special praise for Diaz.

Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images

Gary Neville hails “brilliant” Luis Diaz as Liverpool beat Tottenham

The Colombian international started as a striker in the visitors’ front three, with Salah and Gakpo on either flank. Phil Thompson hailed Arne Slot for profiling the 27-year-old as a makeshift number nine and the tactical experiment paid off once again.

The £37 million (Sky Sports) man opened the scoring by being at the right place at the right time and heading in a peach of a cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold. The former Porto winger doubled his tally by making an intelligent run to get on the end of a delightful pass from Salah and finish with aplomb.

After Diaz’s second goal, Neville lauded his performance while commentating on the game for Sky Sports, as he said: “He has been brilliant, Luis Diaz.”

“The run is there from Diaz, the timing of the pass and run is perfect.”

Shaka Hislop sang Diaz’s praises by stating that he is more important to this Liverpool side than the likes of Ryan Gravenberch and Ibrahima Konate.

While Hislop’s claim would divide opinion, there is no disputing how key of a cog Diaz is to Arne Slot’s machine.

Luis Diaz stats for Liverpool in 6-3 victory against Tottenham

Before his latest outing, the speedster had not scored a Premier League goal since September.

However, Diaz’s energetic display against Spurs merited him getting on the scoresheet twice.

DIAZ STATS VS TOTTENHAM
MINUTES PLAYED87
GOALS2
CHANCES CREATED2
PASSES INTO THE FINAL THIRD2
XG + XA1
TOUCHES IN OPPOSITION BOX6
TOUCHES47
via FotMob

The Liverpool forward was efficient against Tottenham, as the numbers suggest, managing to do as much damage as he did while only taking 47 touches.

Diaz might as well have found his best position as a striker as Gary Neville justifiably praised his showing.

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