Five takeaways from nine-man Liverpool's last-gasp defeat to Tottenham

FROM TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM - Liverpool saw their 19-match unbeaten run come to an end at the hands of Tottenham on Saturday.

The Reds were reduced to nine men in north London with dismissals in either half - Curtis Jones for a high challenge on Yves Bissouma and Diogo Jota for two fouls in quick succession on Destiny Udogie.

Son Heung-min broke the deadlock shortly after Liverpool's first red card, only for Cody Gakpo to equalise on the stroke of half-time.

After Jota's sending off, Jurgen Klopp battened down the hatches and his men defended with admirable resolution, only for Joel Matip to divert a teasing cross from Pedro Porro into his own net.

Here's what we learned from this thrilling encounter...

Liverpool are title contenders

Few teams will lose with virtually the final kick of the game and come away feeling like they are the real deal.

Liverpool are heading back to the top and their showing at Spurs was proof of their mental fortitude. They had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside and the first red card will continue to be disputed.

Klopp was criticised a lot last season for Liverpool's lazy and arrogant defending, but they proved here they can still switch their mindset and actually care about it.

So many red cards already this season could be a sign of streaky ill-discipline - they're the only ones standing in their way from contention again.

Tottenham are still in the infant stages of their project

Despite beating another 'big six' side at home - and taking seven points from nine in games against them this term - Tottenham put in their worst performance of the season.

Yeah, sure, there's a certain amount of strength you need in order to win while not playing well, but Spurs struggled to break down Liverpool when they put all their eggs in the defending basket.

But that should be expected. Tottenham's fast start under Ange Postecoglou has elevated expectations and last week's credible draw at Arsenal almost removed the roof of their ceiling.

In the cold light of day, there will be more lessons to learn, a lot of tweaks still needed, depth still an issue to be resolved. The early signs are incredibly bright, however, and this is just another result for the mythos of their new era.

Pedro Porro deserves widespread apologies

Following a testing Tottenham debut in a 4-1 loss at Leicester City last season, unpopular ex-Spurs boss Tim Sherwood proclaimed: "I don't want to keep picking on the kid but he needs to be relieved of his duties at the moment. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt because it's his debut but Pedro Porro is so bad it's unbelievable."

Porro was thrust into a disjointed Spurs team and expected to become a prevalent attacking outlet as a wing-back in their 3-4-3 system under Antonio Conte. He produced the goods at one end but was hung out to dry at the other.

Postecoglou dismissed suggestions that Porro would be unable to play as an orthodox full-back and the Spaniard has repaid his faith. His showing against Liverpool was superb at both ends of the pitch, flying into tackles and progressing the ball before coming up with the winning cross.

Alisson is an all-time great goalkeeper

Goodness, what an utterly absurd goalkeeper Alisson is.

It's sometimes overlooked just how great he is. The saves he is able to pull off are only replicable by the likes of Premier League legends Peter Schmeichel and Petr Cech.

Perhaps that's just because he's still playing and it's hard to marvel and place him in those kinds of conversations yet. He greatly helped his cause with two headline saves to deny Son and James Maddison at the start of the second half.

Destiny Udogie's silencing of Mohamed Salah should not be overlooked

30 minutes into his battle with Bukayo Saka last week, Udogie appeared to be drowning. The Arsenal winger had forced the left-back into an early booking and provided the cross leading to the opening goal in the north London derby.

But from that point on over the last two games, the Italian was superb. He removed the open-play threat of Saka at the Emirates Stadium and followed that with the shutdown of Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool's Egyptian king was hardly an immediate threat to Tottenham even when his side had 11 men and that's testament to the rapid rise of Udogie, taking the game to another world-class right-winger and winning.

READ MORE ON THE FALLOUT AND CONTROVERSY FROM TOTTENHAM 2-1 LIVERPOOL