Something stirring in N17 as Spurs get their moment of ignition under Conte

In their anarchic draw with Liverpool, Spurs looked like a team shifting gear and becoming an obstacle for opponents again

Who are you exactly? And what have you done with Tottenham Hotspur? At the end of a week menaced by illness, schedule horror and lurking event anxiety, something unexpected happened in north London, as the players of Spurs and Liverpool dished up a glorious, ragged, startlingly carefree game of football.

Both teams might have scored four or five, or none at all, although in the end a 2-2 draw felt fair enough. Both managers had complained in advance about a lack of planning time. Antonio Conte was forced to train with a set of static mannequins, a state of affairs that presents so many punchlines, not to mention an entire self-contained Eric Dier section, that it demands its own dedicated two-hour Spurs stand-up special.