Liverpool welcome Spurs to Anfield trailing 1-0 in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final tonight. The hosts will be confident of overturning that slender disadvantage based on their mostly imperious home form this season and the utter calamity that is Tottenham's defending. Arne Slot will likely send his men out to batter them and all signs point towards that outcome.
For Spurs to emerge victorious, they would need to defend their lead and try cautiously to add to it. Unfortunately for Spurs fans, Ange Postecoglou is unwilling or unable to set up his team to do that. They will go out on the front foot full of naivety and almost certainly be punished.
Arne Slot's men have dominated both the Premier League and UEFA Champions League so far. Some hope for Spurs against them could come from their recent 3-2 loss away at PSV, but that was a dead rubber for Liverpool. Perhaps more encouraging will be the fact that Man United managed to draw 2-2 at Anfield in early January, and they are equally shambolic as Spurs.
A high-scoring draw is the only hope for Postecoglou. He continues to battle with a huge injury list and his team cannot stop shipping goals. However, things have perked up slightly of late. They did manage to beat Elfsborg 3-0 and Brentford 2-0 in the Europa League and Premier League respectively in their last two games, showing that they can keep a clean sheet. Nonetheless, the challenge from Liverpool's attack line will be much stiffer tonight.
Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur Team News
Trent Alexander-Arnold came off in the hosts' last outing against Bournemouth and while fears that it would be a serious problem have been alleyed, he is still a doubt for this clash. Fellow defender Joe Gomez is also absent.
The situation is a lot graver for Spurs. Radu Dragusin was ruled out for the season against Elfsborg no sooner than he had returned. He joins Christian Romero and Dominic Solanke in the list of key players sidelined. However, Ange will be overjoyed to welcome back plenty of walking wounded to contention this week, including Vicario, Brennan Johnson, and Timo Werner.
Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur Possible Lineups
Liverpool could be expected to rotate for this one, but not too much. While this is a low priority for a team with a realistic shot at winning all four competitions in which they remain, it's still a major trophy and Slot will want to book himself a place at Wembley.
Liverpool Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1): Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson; Jones, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Nunez
Ange loves to send players straight back into the fray from injury, risking a resurgence of their problems, as was the case with Dragusin. We may see some of that here. He may also give debuts to centre-back Kevin Danso who joined from Lens and forward Mathys Tel who arrives from Bayern Munich.
Tottenham Hotspur Predicted Lineup (4-3-3): Kinsky; Pedro Porro, Danso, Davies, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Tel, Son
Liverpool vs Tottenham Hotspur Prediction
The hosts will be raring to secure their first final under Arne Slot in front of a packed Anfield crowd. Spurs have it all to do, and will likely be too committed to philosophy over pragmatism to come away with a shock result here.
Prediction: Liverpool 4 - 2 Spurs (4-3 agg)
One thing's for sure and that's goals for this one. The neutral will be champing at the bit for kick-off. Postecoglou's devil-may-care style and both team's attacking prowess will mean plenty of goals going in, hopefully for Spurs' case at both ends. If not, they could be in for a thrashing.
Fans in the UK can watch Liverpool vs Spurs in this Carabao Cup semi-final on TV or via live stream on Sky Sports or free-to-air broadcaster ITV.
