Caution is key for Tottenham or Liverpool will tear them to shreds, writes Danny Murphy

Jurgen Klopp is under more pressure to deliver Champions League football for Liverpool than Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham.

Liverpool are out of the FA Cup and the Premier League title is as good as Manchester City’s. They can’t afford another season where they finish outside the top four and also fail to pick up a trophy, so their need is undoubtedly greater.

Of course, it would be a disappointment should Tottenham finish fifth or below, but supporters understand the situation. Spurs are without a proper home this season as they wait to move into their new ground and are still in the Cup.

Besides, if Pochettino is under pressure, it is because he is a victim of his own success. When he took over in 2014, not many would have expected him to have Tottenham challenging for the title in each of the last two seasons. Yes, they probably need a trophy, but they are clearly in a much better state now than they were when he took over. For that reason, Spurs have more margin for error than Liverpool.

If I had to pick one of them to make the top four, though, I would take Liverpool, and I expect them to turn Tottenham over. Against Manchester United at Wembley, the Spurs full-backs, Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies, attacked constantly and stayed high up the pitch. Against Liverpool’s Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, that would be a big risk.

If Trippier and Davies find themselves isolated against those two they will face a tough afternoon. You saw last season how Davies struggled against Mane, whose two early goals won the game for Liverpool. Both Salah and Mane ‘cheat’ a bit, in the sense they don’t defend as much as other wide players might, allowing them to stay higher up the pitch for longer.

This is especially the case at Anfield, so if I were Pochettino, I would instruct my team to sit deep during the opening phase of the game, be a little more cautious than usual and be happy to play on the counter. It is a dilemma. He will look at that Liverpool defence and see vulnerabilities, as West Brom exposed in the FA Cup, but Klopp’s men did not put together the sort of run they have in the League at Anfield — won seven, drawn five, lost none — without knowing how to stop the opposition.

Harry Kane was able to dominate United’s Phil Jones and Chris Smalling and he will hope to do the same against Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip. Yet, I watched Van Dijk against powerful centre-forwards during his time at Southampton, and he is much cleverer than Jones or Smalling, knowing when to challenge the striker. Matip is a smart operator, too, so Kane will have his work cut out — just like his team.