Liverpool are again in motion within the League Cup tonight as they put together to play host to Tottenham Hotspur within the second leg of the League Cup semi-final.
The Reds have had their focus turned to the Premier League and the Champions League in latest weeks and secured a 2-0 win over in-form Bournemouth within the top-flight of their final match.
Mohamed Salah’s double sealed all three factors for the league leaders towards the Cherries, to assist them bounce again from their 3-2 defeat to PSV in Europe final week.
The Reds are at the moment six factors clear on the high of the Premier League, after that win over Bournemouth, however Arne Slot and his group might be eyeing a number of trophies within the second half of the season.
They nonetheless have the Premier League, the League Cup, the Champions League, and the FA Cup trophies to compete for within the subsequent 4 months.
Nevertheless, they might want to overcome a deficit towards Tottenham Hotspur this night at Anfield, after they misplaced the primary leg of the semi-final
tie in North London.
What occurred within the first leg between Liverpool and Spurs
The one objective of the sport was scored by Swedish teenager Lucas Bergvall within the 86th minute of the match, to seal a 1-0 win for Ange Postecoglou’s aspect on the night time.
Dominic Solanke made an ideal run in behind the Liverpool defence and displayed nice power to carry off Ibrahima Konate earlier than laying a move off to Bergvall, who swept the ball into the underside nook below stress from Virgil van Dijk.
1-0 to Tottenham was not a completely truthful reflection of how the sport went, nevertheless, as each groups had loads of probabilities to seek out the again of the online and failed to take action.
Tottenham 1-0 Liverpool | Tottenham | Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
Possession | 40% | 60% |
Photographs | 9 | 14 |
Photographs on the right track | 3 | 6 |
Large probabilities | 4 | 3 |
Free-kicks | 10 | 8 |
Stats through Sofascore | ||
As you may see within the desk above, each side had ‘massive probabilities’ to attain and solely Spurs managed to take one among them, as Liverpool failed to attain from 14 pictures and three ‘massive probabilities’.
These statistics present that it was an open sport that was stuffed with alternatives to check each goalkeepers and Slot might hope for the same match, albeit with extra probabilities for his aspect, tonight to be sure that his forwards have the ammunition they should shine.
With this in thoughts, the Dutch head coach may ruthlessly ditch Alexis Mac Allister from the beginning line-up for this conflict with Spurs this night, in an effort to bolster his assault.
Why Alexis Mac Allister might be dropped
The Argentina worldwide began within the 2-0 win over Bournemouth final day out and struggled in the midst of the park with Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch alongside him.
Mac Allister performed the opening 61 minutes of the match and did not register a shot on the right track or a ‘massive likelihood’ created, which reveals that he didn’t supply a lot on the high finish of the pitch for the Reds.
The previous Brighton & Hove Albion man additionally misplaced 4 of his 5 duels, being dribbled previous as soon as, and didn’t make a single deal with, interception, block, or clearance to assist the group out of possession.
These statistics present that Mac Allister endured a irritating afternoon towards the Cherries, as he failed to supply a lot on or off the ball, and that will have been why Slot determined to take away him from the sport with half-hour left to play.
Alexis Mac Allister (24/25) | Premier League | EFL Cup |
|---|---|---|
Appearances | 22 | 4 |
Begins | 20 | 2 |
Objectives | 1 | 0 |
Assists | 3 | 0 |
Key passes per sport | 1.4 | 1.0 |
Stats through Sofascore | ||
As you may see within the desk above, the tempo-controlling midfield star has not supplied an enormous risk within the remaining third all through the season within the Premier League or the EFL Cup.
The Argentine whiz, who has averaged 3.3 tackles and interceptions per sport within the Premier League, just isn’t within the group to offer a continuing stream of objectives and assists, therefore why he has solely managed 4 objective contributions in 22 top-flight video games.
Nevertheless, Liverpool are midway to being knocked out of the League Cup on the semi-final stage and want objectives tonight, which is why he must be ruthlessly ditched in favour of Curtis Jones.
Why Curtis Jones must be unleashed
The 24-year-old star must be unleashed from the beginning alongside Szoboszlai and Gravenberch for this second-leg conflict with Spurs as a result of he has the standard on the ball to make issues occur within the remaining third.
Liverpool want objectives, provided that they’re 1-0 down on mixture, and Jones may use his potential on the high finish of the pitch to hold them to Wembley for the ultimate.
Jones has registered an help in each of his final two appearances for Liverpool, towards Lille and Bournemouth, and that signifies that he heads into tonight’s sport in wonderful kind, while Mac Allister struggled final day out towards the Cherries.
The Liverpool academy graduate changed the Argentine maestro on the weekend and went on to help Salah’s second objective of the sport, which was simply the newest in a rising pile of objective contributions for him this season.
Curtis Jones (24/25) | Premier League | Champions League | EFL Cup |
|---|---|---|---|
Begins | 10 | 4 | 3 |
Objectives | 3 | 0 | 0 |
Large probabilities created | 0 | 3 | 1 |
Assists | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Cross accuracy | 95% | 92% | 95% |
Stats through Sofascore | |||
As you may see within the desk above, the England worldwide has supplied a powerful stage of manufacturing in entrance of objective in restricted begins throughout all competitions this season.
Jones, who has been described as “extraordinary” by Micah Richards, has been straight concerned in 9 objectives in 17 appearances, together with six in ten Premier League video games.
These statistics counsel that the Englishman can be way more prone to make a distinction within the remaining third than Mac Allister towards Spurs tonight, which is why Slot ought to convey him into the beginning XI to hold the Reds to Wembley.
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His potential to attain and create objectives from a midfield place may assist Liverpool rating the objectives that they should overcome Tottenham’s one-goal benefit.
