Spurs beat Liverpool thanks to Bassong

Tottenham 2 Liverpool 1. A frenetic opening fixture of the new Premier League season at White Hart Lane saw the home side run out winners after goals from two set pieces cancelled out Steven Gerrard's penalty for Rafa Benitez's team.

After a goalless but urgent first half that saw Liverpool defenders Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel require treatment after a clash of the heads (Carragher needing 12 staples to hold his cut together), Spurs came out the more composed after half time and were soon ahead thanks to Benoit Assou-Ekotto, who scored the first goal of his career after a Tom Huddlestone free kick rebounded off the wall.

Liverpool were soon back on level terms after home keeper Heurelho Gomes was adjudged to have brought down Glen Johnson in the box. Gerrard, who had overcome injury to play, buried the resulting spot kick, but the visitors's lead was only to hold for three more minutes, when summer signing Sebastian Bassong headed home past Reina from a Modric set piece.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYINGMatt Hughes, the Times: "As he peered back through a crowded midfield in the forlorn hope of receiving possession, Fernando Torres could not have looked more lost had he been spotted scrabbling around the back streets of Haringey with an A to Z, and may have been secretly pining for his compatriot. The Spain striker was far from his best, as was the subdued Steven Gerrard, though both deserved some sympathy because they were starved of supply."

Kevin McCarra, the Guardian: "Perhaps these will be ground-breaking days at White Hart Lane in a larger sense. If the sort of control they exerted over Liverpool is to be repeated regularly then the dream of a high station in the table is rational. The excellence of Luka Modric and Wilson Palacios, for instance, was no fleeting illusion on a warm summer's day. Liverpool would be well-advised to accept how ill-equipped they were."

Martin Samuel, Daily Mail:  "Jamie Carragher was stapled together midway through the first half after a clash of heads and, by the looks of it, that is not the last patch-up job that will be performed at Liverpool this season. The win that gave Tottenham three points on the opening day of the season for the first time in nine years - the team that day included Les Ferdinand, Darren Anderton and White Hart Lane’s public enemy No 1 Sol Campbell - already feels like a blow struck against Liverpool’s title ambitions." ·