Sunday 27th April, 4:30pm
Liverpool @ 2/9
Spurs @ 11/2
Draw @ 10/1
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The 1965 historical film The Agony and the Ecstasy stars Charlton Heston as celebrated Italian artist Michelangelo, and depicts his profound struggle (the agony) as he attempts to fulfil Pope Julius II’s commission to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (*spoiler alert* the ecstasy).
Against the backdrop of a present-day focus on events in The Vatican, and intrigue surrounding the forthcoming papal conclave, Liverpool welcome Tottenham Hotspur for a 4:30pm Mass on Sunday. And of these two sides it is not difficult to determine who is currently enduring the agony, and who is on the cusp of experiencing the sweet thrill of ecstasy.
For Liverpool, though they have tasted sour defeat in recent weeks, this has still been a season to savour. Especially so for Arne Slot, who has assumed the lively Anfield reins from Jürgen Klopp with admirable composure. Replacing a charismatic, beloved, and successful manager is no easy task; but to do so while adding a highly coveted trophy to the club mantlepiece in your first Premier League campaign is a remarkable accomplishment.
There has also been recent off-the-pitch success for Liverpool – contract extensions have been signed by their two most important players. And, subsequently, talk of a wholesale re-build has been diluted – just a few minor touch-ups will be required over the summer to restore the vibrant hues of this particular canvas.
One point is needed on Sunday in order to rubber-stamp the title. Then, just like Michelangelo, who toiled at length on his famous ceiling, the only concern becomes whether Slot has possibly reached his? Has his Liverpool team achieved its full potential? Has it already peaked?
Or has this nascent Dutch Master only just begun to create his masterpiece; to lead the club into a new Golden Age?
Imminent and perhaps protracted ecstasy for Liverpool, then, but what of Tottenham? Ah yes, now for the agony…
It has been a gruelling, fractious campaign for Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou – a manager whose only real recent success has been in becoming a meme for epic touchline demoralisation. His Tottenham Hotspur 2024/25 season-spanning fresco consists of ham-fisted, inchoate daubs – a work so devoid of artistic merit that it is in danger of being nominated for the Turner Prize.
In the simplest terms, a club that narrowly finished 5th last season currently occupies the 16th rung in the Premier League table.
And, despite Daniel Levy’s reputation for parsimony, this is a club who have properly splurged of late. Last season, for example, they spent a record £272 million on players. Bringing Dominic Solanke, Archie Gray, and Wilson Odobet to North East London accounted for a sizeable chunk of this season’s £175 million talent outlay.
What have they got to show for all that expenditure? Potentially the worst top-flight finish since 1994. Tottenham might have been better off investing in John Terry’s monkey NFTs…
The Agony and the Ecstasy film ends with the anguished artist – having finally and successfully completed the Sistine Chapel ceiling – being given a new commission by the now moribund Pope: to decorate a large space behind the altar. This blank wall would eventually be filled by Michelangelo’s The Last Judgement.
Is Judgement Day approaching on the horizon for Ange Postecoglou? Or can he use this Sunday to rouse his troops and outline an unlikely route to salvation? Spurs have conceded 10 goals against Liverpool already this season, so the answer may well be a very simple: no.
Though the Europa League still offers a tantalising escape away from these throes of agony, up towards the faint flicker of ecstasy, effort ought to be made to boost morale…
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