Reaction and analysis
Jonathan Liew was our man at the Emirates this evening. His report is in, so get clicking. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Mikel Arteta’s turn. “We are really disappointed but we played against a top side and had big moments in the first half, and big moments in the second half. When you have those moments you have to score. We have to convert, but you have to score if you want to beat a team like Liverpool. We have played the last three games with ten men, it is difficult at this level to win matches. We will prepare to win our game against Burnley.”
Klopp is then told the final will be the first in English football history to be contested between two German managers. He breaks the fourth wall and, after a perfectly timed beat, says directly to the viewer: “Sorry!”
Jurgen Klopp speaks to Sky Sports. “It’s great. It was time, pretty much. We are really happy about it. The players are over the moon. What the boys did tonight against a really strong Arsenal side was exceptional. It was lively but we calmed it down and played good football. We scored two wonderful goals. Wow, Diogo Jota on fire! The first goal was super play, but the second goal ... I don’t think a lot of people in the stadium saw him in that position, but Trent saw him. Outstanding. He has turned into a world-class striker.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold talks to Sky. “It’s good for us to get there. It’s what we expect. We’ve put in good performances in this run with a lot of youngsters, a mixed squad, but we’ve been able to win every game except the first leg. We performed very well tonight and it’s what we deserved. We never gave them too many chances, they had a free kick early doors to be fair, but other than that, we kept them at bay. Diogo’s first goal was outstanding, his second was outstanding again, he’s a world-class player in the best form he’s found at the club. Hopefully more goals for him and we’ll be able to get a win in the final.”
Arsenal were the better side for the first ten minutes, Alexandre Lacazette forcing Caoimhin Kelleher into tipping his free kick onto the bar. After that, it was pretty much all Liverpool, who thoroughly deserve tonight’s victory. Diogo Jota scored two fine goals. Trent Alexander-Arnold sprayed the ball around in his trademark style. Curtis Jones and Fabinho energised the midfield. Arsenal had no answer, and Mikel Arteta, his season over in terms of silverware, trudges morosely down the tunnel. Jurgen Klopp and his men cavort in front of their fans as the rest of the ground quickly empties. A big day out at Wembley against Chelsea coming up next month!
FULL TIME: Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool (agg: 0-2)
Liverpool will play Chelsea in the 2022 League Cup final on 27 February!
90 min +4: A long pass forward for Nketiah, who can’t control. Goal kick. Liverpool are so close now. Meanwhile on Sky, co-commentator Alan Smith, an Arsenal legend, names Diogo Jota as the man of the match. No surprise there.
90 min +3: “Yet another work event that turned out to be an ill-judged Partey.” Paul Griffin, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the Co-op wine.
90 min +2: Arsenal pass it around awhile. Liverpool hold their shape. Arsenal pass it out of play. A lot of slumped shoulders draped in Arsenal red.
90 min +1: In the first of five added minutes, Minamino is booked for a clumsy clatter into Tierney.
RED CARD: Partey (Arsenal)
90 min: Partey, no doubt tired of mind and body having only arrived back from Afcon this lunchtime, flies in studs up on Fabinho. It probably should be a straight red. It’s just a yellow, but it’s his second of the match, and Arsenal are down to ten men.
Updated
89 min: Minamino flies down the left and has options in the middle. He opts to send Robertson further down the wing on the overlap. Robertson’s low cross-cum-shot is easily gathered by Ramsdale.
88 min: Nketiah works hard down the right but he’s surrounded by yellow shirts and his eventual cross dribbles through to Kelleher.
87 min: Partey is booked for a late clip on Williams.
86 min: The game restarts. Still more than enough time left for Arsenal, as anybody who watched that outrageous game between Leicester and Spurs last night will confirm.
85 min: A pause in play as some uninvited halfwit cavorts across the pitch.
Updated
84 min: Neco Williams comes on for the quiet Firmino.
83 min: Konate and Alexander-Arnold faff about to the right of their own box, and very nearly let Martinelli in. But the ball ricochets through to Kelleher. Liverpool go up the other end, Jones bundling a shot wide left from distance.
82 min: Jones is booked for wrestling Odegaard off the ball.
81 min: Partey’s clever backheel, just to the right of the Liverpool box, finds Saka, who rolls across for Martinelli. The lively Brazilian swivels and rasps a shot over the bar from 12 yards. Very close to getting Arsenal straight back in this!
80 min: Remember, away goals count for nothing, so two goals for Arsenal would force this game into extra time.
GOAL! Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool (Jota 77); agg 0-2
The goal’s given! Jota clearly onside! One corner of the Emirates erupts, the rest of the stadium falls silent.
Updated
78 min: VAR will check, though. It looked as though Jota was onside, Gabriel playing him on from deep.
77 min: Alexander-Arnold rakes a cross in from the right. Jota gets in between White and the out-rushing Ramsdale, chests down, and dinks over the keeper and into the net. The flag goes up immediately for offside.
Updated
76 min: Minamino sashays in from the right and tries to release Jota into the box. His dinked pass is half cleared to Milner, who crosses deep from the right. Robertson, flying in from the opposite flank, thrashes a fierce shot across goal and wide right by inches.
75 min: Liverpool respond by replacing a not particularly impressed Henderson with Milner.
74 min: A double change for Arsenal, as Smith Rowe and Lacazette are replaced by returning Afcon hero Partey and League Cup specialist Nketiah.
73 min: Liverpool deal with the corner easily enough.
72 min: Martinelli versus Trent take two. He wins this battle as well, slipping past the defender and sending a rising shot towards the near post. Kelleher does well to tip over. Corner.
Updated
71 min: Martinelli teases Alexander-Arnold down the left and eventually digs out a cross. Van Dijk does well to clear from the middle of a crowded box.
69 min: Alexander-Arnold is sent scampering into acres of green down the right. He crosses low for Minamino, who first slips, then sort of handles in an attempt to chest down, before sending a pearoller goalwards. White traps and clears. Had Minamino connected correctly, the goal would almost certainly have been chalked off for handball. Liverpool aren’t half racking up the chances, though. Can Arsenal make them pay for their sloppy finishing?
68 min: Smith Rowe has the opportunity to send Saka into acres down the right, but rolls a dismal pass straight at Van Dijk. Liverpool were very light at the back there.
67 min: Some scrappy behaviour in the middle of the park. Passes not sticking. On the touchline, both managers give their players the what-for.
65 min: Jones and Robertson combine at speed down the left, then slip Firmino in on the overlap. Firmino reaches the byline and has options to cut back to, but instead attempts to surprise Ramsdale at his near post. The keeper isn’t fooled and claims well.
64 min: That’s Gordon’s race run. He’s replaced by Minamino.
63 min: Alexander-Arnold romps down the right and swings in low for Gordon, who fresh-air swipes from 12 yards. Arsenal scramble clear. Konate then obstructs Lacazette and into the book he goes.
61 min: Saka whips a low cross through the Liverpool box from the right. Nobody has taken a gamble, so there’s nobody to slam home. Martinelli earns a corner, though, and swings it in from the left. It’s only half cleared, the ball falling to Smith Rowe, who hoicks miles over from the edge of the box. Liverpool have their reminder that this is far from over.
59 min: Konate rises above Saka and blasts a downward header off the bottom of the right-hand post. Ramsdale, beaten all ends up for that, gets back up to stop Henderson’s reactive prod towards the bottom right. Then the flag goes up; Henderson was offside. Liverpool so close to a second again, but Arsenal are hanging on!
58 min: Robertson crosses deep from the left. Ramsdale goes up, under pressure from Van Dijk, and punches the ball out for a goal kick ... and also his team-mate Tierney in the head. Tierney’s up again quickly enough, and Alexander-Arnold prepares to take the corner.
56 min: Tomiyasu is stripped of possession by Jones, who tears off down the left. The Arsenal defender yanks at Jones’ shirt, and is booked as a result. Nothing comes of the resulting free kick.
55 min: Fabinho has the ball at his feet just outside the Arsenal box, but can’t decide what to do with it. He should shoot, really, but wedges wide left for Jones, who miscontrols. Will Liverpool end up ruing these missed opportunities?
54 min: A long ball down the middle. Kelleher goes up to claim on the edge of his box. Martinelli Nat Lofthouses him, barging him unceremoniously to the floor. He prepares to roll the loose ball home, but he’s not getting away with that. Free kick.
53 min: Arsenal respond with a period of sterile possession.
51 min: Jota bursts past White down the left with absurd ease. He reaches the byline and pulls back for Gordon, alone on the penalty spot. Gordon has to score, but leans back and converts for three rugby points instead. A big miss by the young man. He sucks his teeth ruefully. It should be 0-2.
Updated
49 min: Sambi Lokonga clips a ball down the middle and finds Lacazette in space, just outside the box. He’s only got Kelleher to beat but takes the shot first time anyway, and fires wildly over the bar. A good chance, and despite the miss, that’s got the crowd going.
48 min: Gordon drops deep and turns into space, nearly releasing Jota down the inside-left channel with a clever sliderule pass. He gets a little too much on it, and Ramsdale comes out to clear.
47 min: Alexander-Arnold’s clearance clunks into Martinelli and nearly rebounds into the path of Lacazette. Kelleher races off his line to smother, just in time. A slight deviation on that rebound and Arsenal were in.
46 min: Gordon knocks the ball forward and takes on Tierney in a footrace down the Liverpool right. The Arsenal man wins this one.
Arsenal get the second half underway. Liverpool have made one change, swapping out the slightly out-of-sorts Matip for Konate. They’re 45 minutes plus stoppages away from a Wembley showdown with Chelsea, but Gunners fans need not panic yet, as Kevin Dardis explains: “My one and only attendance at a League Cup final (the Littlewoods Cup back then) was in 1987. Arsenal against Liverpool. Ian Rush scored first and it was well known that, until then, he had never scored for Liverpool and ended up on the losing side. But Arsenal won 2-1. Rush scored against Norwich in his next game in the league and Liverpool lost again. So: 32 games having scored first, 27 wins and 5 draws … Arsenal and Liverpool in the League Cup … everything is possible!”
Half-time snack. Treats for your eyes and ears. We spoil you rotten.
HALF TIME: Arsenal 0-1 Liverpool (agg: 0-1)
Lacazette, who needs to watch himself having just been booked, fouls Jota out on the left. The free kick is swung into the mixer and falls at the feet of Fabinho, whose low drive is blocked in a crowded box. And that’s advantage Liverpool at the break.
Updated
45 min: Liverpool ping it around the back patiently. Then they suddenly spring forward, Henderson reaching the byline down the right. His cross is plucked confidently from the sky by Ramsdale.
44 min: The first booking of the match comes as Lacazette lunges late on Jones, standing on his foot.
43 min: Liverpool take their sweet time over a throw deep inside their own territory. They cop plenty of pantomime abuse in doing so. Time, right now, is their only friend.
41 min: Alexander-Arnold breaks into space down the right, and has the option of switching play towards Jota on the opposite flank, but faffs around and the danger to a hastily backpedalling Arsenal is over.
39 min: Tierney and Martinelli combine at pace down the left. This particular move comes to nothing, but Arsenal are pushing Liverpool back for the first time in a while.
37 min: Sambi Lokonga romps down the middle. He’s clipped to the floor, but that’s a burst of energy that enlivens the stadium. The atmosphere, despite the efforts of the away end, had fallen a bit flat.
35 min: Alexander-Arnold bursts into space down the right and crosses deep. Jota tries to recycle the ball on the left, but his cutback again fails to find a team-mate.
34 min: Alexander-Arnold plays a ball down the right. It’s shuttled further up the flank by Fabinho, then Firmino, with a couple of instant flicks, nearly releasing Gordon. White intervenes to blooter clear.
32 min: Matip dawdles on the halfway line and is dispossessed by Smith Rowe. The ball’s shuttled wide right to Saka, who can’t quite get a shot away but eventually wins a corner. Saka takes. Jones rises highest to batter a header clear.
30 min: To illustrate that, Liverpool have enjoyed 59 percent of possession during the last ten minutes.
29 min: Robertson finds Jota in space down the left. Jota reaches the byline and pulls back, but the ball evades everyone in yellow and Gabriel can clear. Liverpool are beginning to dominate now, pushing the home team back.
28 min: Suddenly an end-to-end game breaks out! Jones bombs down the middle with the ball at his feet. Gordon loses possession on the edge of the Arsenal box. Tierney breaks up the left wing. He feeds Martinelli, who shifts his feet in the box to make space, and prepares to shoot, 12 yards out, only for Fabinho to slide in and toe-poke the ball away from the striker just in time.
26 min: All very scrappy again. Arsenal, having camped in Liverpool’s final third for the first ten minutes, can’t get anywhere near now.
24 min: Sambi Lokonga slides through Firmino. Not enough for a booking, but the unnecessary foul draws the first howls of anguish and frustration from the home support.
22 min: Saka probes down the right but Liverpool hold a firm shape and he’s forced to turn tail. A big task for Arsenal now, because during the last 12 months, Liverpool have scored first in 32 games, going on to win 27 of them and drawing the other five.
20 min: Arsenal had been the better team up until Jota’s surge of creativity. But now look. That’s dampened the home crowd’s enthusiasm a wee bit.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Liverpool (Jota 19); agg 0-1
All of a sudden, Liverpool spring to life! Alexander-Arnold creams a pass down the left for Jota, who drops a shoulder to cut inside and leave Tomiyasu behind. Jota steams towards the D, running left to right across the face of goal. He shoots. He doesn’t really connect properly. But his scuff wrongfoots Ramsdale and dribbles into the bottom left!
Updated
19 min: A lot of nerves on display here. Now White hoicks a simple ball out of play.
18 min: Liverpool’s passing continues to go awry. This is pretty scrappy now.
16 min: Kelleher slips and shanks a clearance out of play down the left. Then a few seconds later, Matip flays a dismal long pass into the stand on the right. So much for the aforementioned confidence boost.
14 min: VAR has a look anyway, but Matip was clearly off. That’ll give Liverpool some confidence after their jittery start, though.
13 min: Jota takes matters into his own hands and dribbles purposefully down the left wing, earning Liverpool’s first corner of the evening. Robertson takes and swings deep. Fabinho rises highest and heads down powerfully, towards the left-hand post. The effort’s heading wide, so Matip prods home. He knows he’s offside and shakes his head sadly as the flag goes up.
12 min: Fabinho tries to release Gordon down the right, but his pass is weak and easily intercepted by Gabriel. Sequences of more than two passes are at a premium for the visitors right now.
10 min: Tierney bombs down the left into space, but makes a mess of the cross. Liverpool continue to look uncertain at the back.
8 min: Martinelli chases after a bouncing ball down the left. He reaches the byline and loops into the centre. Kelleher scampers across his line backwards in a panic, but is muscled out of it unfairly by Lacazette and Saka, and the whistle goes for a free kick.
7 min: Liverpool stroke it around the back like it’s the 1980s all over again. Probably a wise move after a shaky start.
5 min: Lacazette wedges a delightful free kick over the wall and towards the top right. Kelleher gets a fingertip to the ball, deflecting it onto the bar and away. A great start by the hosts, this. Liverpool haven’t settled at all.
Updated
4 min: Arsenal have started very brightly. Matip’s poor clearance is pounced upon by the hosts. Saka dribbles towards the box, forcing Robertson to barge him to the floor. A free kick, just to the right of the D.
3 min: A corner on the left leads to a second one, this time on the right. Saka takes. Matip heads clear under intense pressure. A scramble on the edge of the box. Lacazette nearly gets a shot away but the ball squirts through to Kelleher.
2 min: Martinelli twists and turns down the left and nearly breaks into the box along the byline. He settles for the first corner of the evening.
1 min: The Arsenal fans are giving it plenty. Great atmosphere. Liverpool try to quieten them down with some slow possession at the back, but the noise still comes. “The Kelleher Competition!” guffaws Justin Kavanagh. “Finally someone comes up with a decent name for the Milk/Coca-Cola/Caribou/Carling and whatever you’re having yourself Jürgen Cup.”
Liverpool get the second leg of this League Cup semi-final underway ... but only after the taking of the knee. There’s no room for racism.
The teams are out. Arsenal are in their famous red shirts with white sleeves, while Liverpool sport third-choice Merseyrail yellow. There’s one hell of an atmosphere at the Emirates, much as you’d expect for a major semi-final. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes! “Always good to celebrate London Underground design,” writes Charles Antaki. “It’s not quite what it was, but still. I doubt that many of the non-homegrown Londoners in the team will feel strongly about it one way or the other, though it does bring to mind the anecdote of a famous footballer playing in London who was asked if he ever took public transport. After a period of judicious reflection, he replied confidently: ‘Yes - I took a taxi just the other day’.”
Mikel Arteta talks to Sky: “I am pushing the players. There are players who haven’t had any training sessions but we had to put a team out there. I am trying to look after them, and the players are really willing to come back and try to play. We didn’t have anybody else. Thomas Partey was really disappointed to be out of the Afcon but he landed at midday today and came straight to the hotel, and he wants to be on the bench, ready to help.”
Jurgen Klopp adds: “Kaide [Gordon] is a right winger, he did exceptionally well last time and in training. Caoimhin [Kelleher] played all the time in this competition, just not last time because we had to give Alisson some rhythm after his Covid break, but this is the Kelleher competition so that’s why he’s playing.”
Arsenal unveil a new training shirt tonight. They’ll be warming up in tops inspired by the seat covers of the nearby Piccadilly Line, which runs from Cockfosters to Heathrow via Arsenal, the only station on the entire London Underground network named after a football club. The station, formerly known as Gillespie Road and slap bang next to Highbury, played a big part in luring Huddersfield manager Herbert Chapman to the club, as he dreamed of spending his spare time in the centre of town, only a 12-minute ride away. Upon turning the Gunners into the best team in the country, he persuaded the London Electric Railway to change the name to Arsenal. The signs were unveiled on 5 November 1932, and the team marked the event by winning 7-1 away at Wolves that same day.
Arsenal make three changes to the team named for the first leg at Anfield last week. Takehiro Tomiyasu, Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe come in for Cedric Soares, Eddie Nketiah and the suspended Granit Xhaka. Thomas Partey, freshly back from the Africa Cup of Nations with Ghana, takes a place on the bench.
Liverpool make two changes to the XI selected to start against Brentford on Sunday. Caoimhin Kelleher takes over from Alisson in goal, while the injured Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is replaced by young Kaide Gordon. Curtis Jones, who came on as a substitute in the first leg, gets a full runout this time, while first-leg starters James Milner and Takumi Minamino drop to the bench.
Updated
The teams
Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Sambi Lokonga, Saka, Smith Rowe, Odegaard, Martinelli, Lacazette.
Subs: Partey, Holding, Tavares, Nketiah, Hein, Biereth, Oulad M’hand, Patino, Alebiosu.
Liverpool: Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Jones, Gordon, Firmino, Jota.
Subs: Alisson, Konate, Milner, Gomez, Adrian, Minamino, Tsimikas, Neco Williams, Morton.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
Updated
Preamble
Two clubs, both with recent form for forcing postponements, get their football on. Arsenal have the advantage after their ten men held on for a goalless draw at Anfield in the first leg. Can they make it through to a final showdown with old pals Chelsea? Or will eight-time winners Liverpool travel to Wembley instead? We’ll find out soon enough, even if we need extra time and penalties, away goals counting for nix. Kick off is at 7.45pm. At last, it’s on!
