Jürgen Klopp has unlocked exciting 21-goal

It is no exaggeration to say that Liverpool's visit to the London Stadium was a do-or-die moment for Jürgen Klopp's side in this Premier League season. A defeat at the hands of Tottenham would have left the Reds with a steep mountain to climb, even with plenty of steps until the finish line.

But having snatched three points away from the capital, Liverpool will hope they are on the verge of clawing themselves back in contention for the top four race with now seven points behind Tottenham in fourth, with a game in hand on some of those above them.

It wasn't pretty. While Liverpool played some sumptuous attacking football in the first half, Klopp's side had to slog their way through much of the second half. Even so, Liverpool always looked like a threat, largely in part thanks to the mesmerising duo of Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez.

Núñez has always been a livewire in a Liverpool shirt. Capable of causing utter mayhem in the opposition's half of the pitch, he still needs to refine his performances to calm himself down in front of goal, which has been the only thing holding him back from truly exploding onto the scene.

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And against Spurs, while he was far from perfect, at times there were certainly shades of a more composed Núñez morphing into being. Liverpool's first goal was an example of that, gwith Núñez having the whole goal to aim for but deciding to lay off a pass to Salah in a better position instead.

 It may have been a simple ball, but considering at times this season the Uruguayan has often opted for a shot rather than a pass, it was certainly encouraging to see him make the better decision this time around. Nonetheless, with two joint goal contributions between them so far in Núñez's Liverpool career (where one player assists the other), and on the evidence of their display against Tottenham, it's clear there is a partnership blossoming between the pair of them.

Better than Salah and Sadio Mané, Combo 

Over the summer with the departure of Sadio Mané, Salah lost his most trusted partner in the Liverpool attack, with whom he combined for goals more than any of his other teammates making 36 joint goal participations together and averaging 0.19 joint goal contributions per 90.

Salah's and Núñez's mere two in 711 minutes together on the pitch is a long way away from the 36 he racked up with Mané. However, distilling those numbers down to per 90 figures, it's actually better than his partnership with the Senegalese international at an average of 0.25 joint goal contributions per 90.

Of course, it's still a raw partnership and Salah and Núñez only have a small sample to analyse at Liverpool, whereas Mané and Salah spent 16,970 minutes together on the pitch, but the signs are promising.

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If Núñez and Salah can continue building on the exciting foundations witnessed so far, having already netted 21 times this season between them, then Klopp may have just unlocked a worthy partner to succeed Mané's duty at Anfield.

The narrative that Mané's departure to Bayern Munich was behind Liverpool's struggles should be well and truly busted.