Have Tottenham Hotspur ever been bigger underdogs?

This weekend, they take on a Liverpool team that are in simply irrepressible form.

The Reds haven’t lost in the Premier League all season. Of 60 possible points, they have taken 58. Their only draw came against Manchester United at Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men counter-punched their way to an impressive point.

But this weekend, they will turn up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as hot favourites.

Spurs are, quite simply, a mess.

They haven’t won any of their last three games in all competitions and have been outplayed in all of them, respectively by Norwich City, Southampton and then Championship Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. They were fortunate to take two draws from those three games and were deservedly beaten by the Saints.

In that game, they sustained two serious injury problems; Harry Kane is out for the foreseeable future after injuring his hamstring, while Moussa Sissoko is out for three months because of ligament damage.

Hugo Lloris is also out, as is Ben Davies, while doubts persist over the fitness of both Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Winks, per The Daily Telegraph.

It adds up to a potent cocktail of poor form and a lack of availability within the squad.

While the January transfer window is open, there is unlikely to be any significant movement before kick-off on Saturday evening and one has to believe that this has become something of a free hit for Spurs.

The big fat Tottenham quiz of 2019 – how much do you remember about the last year at Spurs?

They played reasonably well at Anfield earlier this season as they lost 2-1 and actually led, Kane scoring an early goal, but they receded into their own half and were worn down by the Reds’ persistence.

Mourinho, though, can’t really lose this weekend.

A heavy loss can be deflected, blamed on the injury woes and the lack of form that his side are currently grappling with. They do not have a senior striker, after all, and the former Chelsea boss is likely to select a patched-up midfield.

A narrow defeat would be par for the course at this stage of the season; Liverpool are top and are on an 11-game winning run. Nobody is expecting Spurs to stop them.

There is, though, the opportunity to record a tent pole result, a match from which the Portuguese can build.

A draw would be a fine result, another point towards their quest for Champions League qualification – they are currently six behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

But a win, however unlikely that may seem at this point, would be nothing short of miraculous.

To beat one of the best teams in Europe without a proper striker or a reasonably functioning midfield or their first-choice goalkeeper would be a genuine shock.

Mourinho, if nothing else, is a pragmatist, a manager able to coach his sides to defend in numbers and do it well. Think back to that famous Inter Milan result against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg of 2010. At the Camp Nou, they reached the final by defending deep and denying Barca any chances of note. They lost 1-0 but went through 3-2 on aggregate.

That was a masterclass in tactical management, in defensive awareness and in adapting on the fly; Inter had Thiago Motta sent off during the encounter.

Mourinho has not yet produced such a performance at Spurs; if he can do it this weekend, it would be just as astonishing as that famous night in Catalonia.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has made a major transfer demand.