Liverpool vs Arsenal LIVE: Carabao Cup result, final score and reaction after Granit Xhaka red card
Follow all the reaction from the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg as the visitors held on for a draw despite Granit Xhaka’s early red card
Follow live reaction after Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by 10-men Arsenal in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Anfield.
Liverpool were handed a huge opportunity to take a lead into next week’s return leg at the Emirates after Granit Xhaka’s early red card forced Arsenal to play the majority of the match with 10 men. Xhaka was shown a straight red card on 23 minutes when he brought down Diogo Jota with a high tackle on the edge of the box. Jota had been released by a long ball over the top and was through on goal when Xhaka took him down.
But Mikel Arteta’s side were deserving of their draw after producing a committed defensive performance that limited Liverpool to few chances. Takumi Minamino squandered a golden opportunity late on but blazed a shot over the bar with the goal gaping after Aaron Ramsdale had dropped a cross.
The hosts were ultimately left frustrated following a poor attacking performance in the absence of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, and it hands Arsenal the edge as they take home advantage into the return leg next Thursday.
Follow all the latest reaction below:
Liverpool vs Arsenal
No player has scored more goals in the Carabao Cup this season than Eddie Nketiah who has netted five times. He has 10 goals in nine appearances overall in the league cup.
Will he be Arsenal’s biggest threat tonight?
Liverpool vs Arsenal
Liverpool have played seven previous semi-final first legs at home in this competition, winning five and drawing two.
They have lost only one of 15 semi-final first legs played at Anfield in any competition – that defeat coming in the 1970-71 Fairs Cup when they lost 1-0 to Leeds United.
Liverpool vs Arsenal
This is the 13th League Cup tie between Liverpool and Arsenal with both teams having previously won six games each.
This fixture also has a history of goals with the last five meetings in the League Cup between the teams having produced 28 goals.
Liverpool vs Arsenal: Liverpool enter new year wrestling with old midfield woes
It was after the evisceration of Manchester United that Jurgen Klopp delivered assessments which still, three months later, offer the brush strokes of Liverpool’s conflict in evolution.
At the height of their blitzing this season, a period in which they blazed 37 goals in 11 games across all competitions, having gone on their longest undefeated run since 1989, the manager purposely zoned in on their flaws.
Liverpool were a free-scoring machine in a throwback to their 2017-18 vintage, but there was little sign of the control, steel and surety that delivered the status: champions of England, Europe and the world.
Liverpool enter new year wrestling with old midfield woes
Liverpool are stuck between who they were, who they are, and the team they want to be which largely revolves around the presence of Thiago
Liverpool vs Arsenal
This is Liverpool’s 18th League Cup semi-final with only Tottenham Hotspur (19) appearing in more.
There has only been one previous semi-final meeting between Liverpool and Arsenal in the League Cup, with Liverpool winning 2-1 over two legs in 1978.
All the goals came in the first leg at Anfield as Kenny Dalglish and Ray Kennedy were on target for the Reds after Malcolm MacDonald gave Arsenal an early lead.
This will be the first occasion in League Cup history that Liverpool have faced the same club in three successive seasons.
Liverpool vs Arsenal: 'Postponements out of our control’ says Arteta
Mikel Arteta has been speaking about the decision to postpone the first leg of this Carabao Cup tie to next week after Liverpool’s player recorded a high number of false positive Covid tests. The Arsenal boss says the situation is not something he can control and that the EFL has to come to the correct decisions regarding postponements. He said:
It’s something that’s not in our control. The EFL is responsible to check every single player’s status and make the decision whether the game is played or not. The decision was to postpone the match and I’m sure they had the right arguments to do so.
“We trust every test is going to be as reliable as possible. It is always going to be a percentage that might get the results wrong.
“First of all, you have to trust the people who do it, that it’s done in the right way and we have the right equipment or the best possible equipment.”
Liverpool vs Arsenal: Odegaard out with Covid
Both managers have named strong starting XI’s meaning we should be in for a good contest at Anfield. Arsenal have tweeted that Saed Kolasinac misses the game due to a tight hamstring and Martin Odegaard is out because of a positive Covid-19 test.
Liverpool vs Arsenal: Team changes
Jurgen Klopp makes eight changes to the Liverpool side who lined-up against Shrewsbury at the weekend. Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, and Fabinho are the only players to keep their spots as there are returns for the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson Becker. In the absence of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Takumi Minamino join Diogo Jota in the front three.
Mikel Arteta makes fives changes to the Arsenal team that lost to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup. Aaron Ramsdale returns in goal with Kieran Tierney and Gabriel back in defence alongside Ben White and Cedric Soares. Granit Xhaka passed his pre-match assessment and makes the starting XI and Alexandre Lacazette takes Martin Odegaard’s place as the number 10 with Eddie Nketiah once again leading the line.
Liverpool vs Arsenal: Line-ups
Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Milner; Jota, Firmino, Minamino
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tierney; Lokonga, Xhaka; Saka, Lacazette, Martinelli; Nketiah
Liverpool vs Arsenal: World’s best players ‘always interested’ in joining Arsenal, Mikel Arteta claims
Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal can still attract the world’s best players as the club continue to be linked with a move for Fiorentina forward Dusan Vlahovic.
The Gunners sit fourth in the Premier League as they look to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in five years and travel to Liverpool on Thursday for the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Despite consecutive eighth-place finishes in the last two seasons and missing out on Europe entirely this term, Arsenal were the highest spenders in England during the summer transfer window as the likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Martin Odegaard arrived at the Emirates Stadium.
World’s best players ‘always interested’ in joining Arsenal, Mikel Arteta claims
There has been much speculation in recent weeks about interest in Serbia international Dusan Vlahovic, who has hit 16 goals in 19 Serie A appearances this season
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