Joe Gomez impressed yet again as Liverpool extended their winning start to the Premier League season with a 2-1 victory against Tottenham.
The 21-year-old maintained his fine form alongside Virgil van Dijk at centre-back, restricting Harry Kane to an unusually quiet day in front of goal.
He once again refused to shy from flexing his ball-playing expertise, serving as an unflinching distributor through the lines.
It was his assured response following a nervy five minute spell in the second half that marked a major sign of his development as he prevented a couple of minor lapses impacting his confidence.
Besides a few tricky moments as Spurs searched for a goal, Gomez was relatively untroubled by the hosts’ movement or aerial presence.
His standout moment arrived in the second half when he showed incredible pace to match Lucas Moura in a race for the ball, before halting the Brazilian with a perfectly-timed slide tackle.
A reminder of his sheer athleticism and ever-improving positional awareness warranted applause from the covering Van Dijk.
It proved the perfect response to the Tottenham man bypassing him with some ease before hitting the post minutes earlier.
Joe Gomez is literally going from strength to strength at centre-back. Great positional awareness; clever at sensing danger; underrated pace (in my opinion) and good strength.
Long may it continue….
pic.twitter.com/gC3qmnYG8d— Ben Webb (@BenWebbLFC) September 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/jacklusby_/status/1040945569953398784
https://twitter.com/nova_stine/status/1040994494378926080
Everyone focuses on goals as highlights but Joe Gomez’s tackle on Lucas Moura was the moment of the Spurs v Liverpool game. I’d say Bobby Moore never tackled like that but I know Twitter would take it seriously.
— Tony Barrett (@TonyBarrett) September 15, 2018
https://twitter.com/sazzam31/status/1040979874817687552
Joe Gomez got done by Moura last time so went for a big tackle this time #lad #lfc #ynwa
— mannysanny (@mannysanny) September 15, 2018
Joe Gomez’s tackle on Lucas Moura in a saline drip please
— Jimmy Mac (@Jim__Mac) September 15, 2018
THAT TACKLE FROM JOE GOMEZ👏🏽
— J Cajeta (@Zoneih) September 15, 2018
Joe Gomez has absolutely eaten Lucas Moura there. What a tackle son 💪
— Dan 🤙 (@LordLallana) September 15, 2018
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