Steve Bruce refuses to blame Hull’s defeat on Livermore suspension

Tottenham 2
Hull City 0

Steve Bruce refused to blame Jake Livermore's positive test for cocaine as the reason behind Hull City's defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.

Hull will be relegated from the Premier League on Sunday if they fail to beat Manchester United. Even then, if Newcastle win at home to West Ham and Sunderland pick up one more point this season, Hull’s result will prove irrelevant and they will slip back to the Championship.

Livermore has been suspended by Hull and is the subject of an English Football Association investigation but faces a ban of up to two years following the test after last month’s victory at Crystal Palace.

Bruce refused to blame the incident for the result. “I don’t want to make it an excuse and I warned them of that playing today,” said Bruce. “As far as I’m concerned he wasn’t available. We had five or six not available but, obviously, we didn’t want to make that an excuse.”

Spurs secured victory following second-half goals from Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose.

It means Mauricio Pochettino’s side could still qualify for the Europa League. Questions have been raised regarding Tottenham’s desire to play in Europe’s second-tier competition next year – given the effects the campaign has had this year – but Pochettino insisted that remains their ambition.

“The gap is only one point but our objective and target is to play next season in the Europa League – and we need to try to get three points against Everton. It was a nice way to finish at home and I think the fans are very pleased. We deserved the victory and they enjoyed the two goals we scored today,” he said. Guardian Service