Arsenal will face Liverpool in the EFL Cup semi-final, which will take place over two legs.
The Gunners earned their place in the last four of the competition with a resounding 5-1 victory over lower-league side Sunderland yesterday, while the remaining three ties of this round were played today.
Chelsea sealed their place in the semis with a 2-0 win over Brentford, while Tottenham had to overcome West Ham by a 2-1 scoreline.
Liverpool and Leicester was the only match not to be completed inside the 90 minutes, with the game going to penalties after finishing 3-3 after the Reds found a late equaliser thanks to Minamino’s finish, and they completed the comeback by winning the shoot-out 5-4 (no thanks to their last-minute hero who missed the chance to seal it with his side’s fifth penalty).
We are expected to battle it out for a place in the February final in two weeks time, with the second leg just one week later.
Full EFL Cup semi-final draw as they came out of the hat:
Arsenal v Liverpool
Chelsea v Tottenham
With Manchester City already knocked out of this competition, we have as much chance as any of our rivals to win this competition, which would guarantee us a return to European football ahead of the new season, although I don’t believe we would be happy to settle for a place in the European Conference League the way our season has gone thus far.
It will be two big wins needed to lift the trophy this season, with no weak sides remaining in the tournament, but there is no reason why we should doubt our chances especially with one leg at the Emirates where we have been particularly strong this term.
Patrick
We will be able to see if the bench guys who played yesterday can hack it against the top team !.. fingers crossed.
Oh well…..
Bring it…
If we want to win something, we have to face those teams anyway.
MA should learn from his lessons (in PL) and play for the win!
It’s clear that we can’t win the PL, so fight for the top 4 and win the cups!
I thought Liverpool were dead and buried.. so it just goes to show that even with a second team on display they still fought back to prove that there is fighting spirit. We will need to show the same resolve
Liverpool is a bloody team just like their Jersey rightly shows. We need guts, strength and belief to come out with something positive. Not necessarily a win but maybe fear, identity and respect. No team is unbeatable. COYG.
Come on you Gunners!💪
No no no! I was really hoping we would avoid Liverpool. This is worst case scenario ☹️
Relax, Mikel humbled Pool in the FA when he just joined.Mikel did it, he will do it again if those on the pitch play like men.
You can get there Gunners. Gooner down under
Glad we got tough opposition, a good test and hopefully we keep the same team.
I’d love to win this but not to get European football, I have no interest in being in Europa when we are in a UCL spot in the league which should be the focus.
But winning the LC would be nice for a change. We have not won it for a long long time. I am 31 and I have not seen Arsenal win the LC.
Our second team has a better chance of beating Liverpool second team than our first team beating their 1st, I’m glad it was Liverpool or Chelsea because those are still in champions league and they will rest players….
But will we be facing the Liverpool “reserve” team.I very much doubt it.
I think you are quite correct. I think Liverpool will want to win this competition as much as any other of the remaining teams. The one thing in our favour is that if it is decided that, and its a big if, the tie is played as a one off game. If this is the case and Arsenal are at
home we have a chance of success. On the other hand it seems that Liverpool will have all their guns (Van Dyke et al) available by the time the tie is played. I think that Klopp will put out his strongest possible team