Tottenham’s 452-Minute Drought Sharpens Richarlison Dilemma
Whether Richarlison can feature for Tottenham at Anfield on Tuesday has become the club’s most pressing selection question, even if nobody at Hotspur Way is saying much about it publicly. Roberto De Zerbi’s side head into the Carabao Cup clash with Liverpool off the back of a 0-0 draw at home to Everton, a result that extended a run nobody wanted extending.
Tottenham failed to score in any of their opening four Premier League matches this season, going 452 minutes without a top-flight goal before the Everton stalemate. That’s the concrete, verified backdrop. Everything around Richarlison’s own status is murkier.
What’s actually confirmed, and what isn’t
Reports elsewhere, including ESPN, claim Richarlison was left out of Tottenham’s 25-man Premier League squad for the first half of the season, and that he started the defeat at Brentford on 23 August before being absent from the matchday squad for the 2-0 home loss to Newcastle a week later. That’s a separate fixture entirely from the Everton draw, and Spurs have not laid out their own account of any of it in detail.
The BBC has also reported on a contract dispute and stalled transfer talks, though none of that has been independently nailed down by Tottenham themselves. Treat it as background noise rather than settled fact until the club actually says something.
Why it matters against Liverpool
De Zerbi’s attacking options – Dominic Solanke, Omar Marmoush, Mathys Tel – have not produced, and the manager has made no public commitment either way on whether Richarlison, once last season’s top scorer, would be part of his thinking for Anfield. Cup competitions typically allow selection outside strict Premier League registration rules, which is presumably why the question is even being asked, but that’s a regulatory point worth confirming rather than assuming.
What happens next
The only thing that actually resolves this is Tottenham naming their squad and team for Liverpool. Anything beyond that – longer-term questions about his future, a January move, contract wrangling – is speculation dressed up as certainty until somebody at the club confirms it on record.
