The first of two matches in the League Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Liverpool was scheduled to take place last Thursday in London, but a Corona outburst at Liverpool caused it to be postponed. Therefore, the first meeting is now being held at Anfield Stadium so that Arsenal will be able to host the rematch next week.
As you may recall, Liverpool claimed that they could not put together a squad of 14 players for the meeting and asked the League Cup organizers to postpone the game, a request that was accepted. On Sunday the team had already returned to the pitch, but came up with a very lacking squad that did not prevent it from defeating Shrewsbury 1: 4 in the English Cup. Liverpool are missing Sadio Mane, Muhammad Salah and Nabi Keita who went to the African Championship, but also Trent Alexander Arnold and Allison are in doubt for the game as they have only recovered from Corona and also the injured Origi Origi and Tiago Alcantara will be absent. The squad is set to return Roberto Firmino, who scored with the heel on Sunday in the Cup, but was one of those caught in Corona last week.
On the Arsenal side, Mikel Arteta and his players were at peak momentum and after five consecutive wins in all competitions at the end of December, 2022 started with a 2-1 loss to Manchester City in the 90th minute and the big surprise came on Sunday with the relegation from the Cup following a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest From the Championship. To Artta’s delight, against Liverpool, the brakeman Gabriel, who was serving a suspension, also returned to the squad, as well as the injured Takahiro Tomiasso and midfielder Emil Smith Rowe. In addition, Kieran Tierney, Alexander Lacassette and goalkeeper Arun Ramsdale opened.
12 min: Aaron Ramsdale made a big mistake when he kicked a ball into Jordan Henderson’s hand, but then managed to block it to the corner. The referee did not see that the ball hit the hand of a Liverpool player.
24 min: Red card! Andrew Robertson sent a long ball towards Diego Jote, Granit Jaka kicked it hard and prevented a one-on-one situation. Swiss with another red