Now back from the Africa Cup of Nations and with a full week of training behind him, Sadio Mane produced a man of the match performance for Liverpool against Tottenham. The Senegal attacker was simply unplayable for Liverpool in the first half at Anfield and Spurs – previously the best defence in the Premier League – just could not cope. On Match of the Day, they immediately highlighted how brilliant Mane was in the first half to win the game with two goals. They also showed with graphical evidence how Mane completely disrupted the Spurs defence from the off. Gary Lineker pointed out that Mane came close to scoring a hat-trick in six minutes, were it not for Hugo Lloris’ save. After those two goals, Mane had two great chances to complete his hat-trick in the first half.