Sign up
news article img

Football

League Cup: Liverpool vs Arsenal Ends with a Goalless Tie

Liverpool and Arsenal are two of the strongest teams taking part in the League Cup, but their clash wasn’t as spectacular as we expected. They faced each other in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final at Anfield, but the disappointing game ended with a goalless tie. Liverpool struggled to break Arsenal down because they were playing without two key players – Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. They're both currently taking part in the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations and are due to miss several major games for Liverpool. Numbers weren’t really on Arsenal’s side, either, especially after losing Granit Xhaka, whose poor discipline cost him another red card. The Swiss midfielder was dismissed 24 minutes into the game after a reckless last-man challenge on Liverpool’s Diogo Jota. Despite Xhaka’s early dismissal, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta praised the team for bringing “fight, determination and brotherhood" to the pitch and never giving up even though it’s extremely difficult to play against Liverpool. "I said to the players before the game that you have to have a certain attitude and in difficult moments you have to react - I think the boys did that very well. We played the game we had to play,” said Arteta after the match.