Arsenal vs Liverpool: Player ratings, reaction and analysis as Jota puts Reds into Carabao Cup final

Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool (2-0 on aggregate) – Jota, 19, 77, Partey sent off ’90

Diogo Jota struck twice to swing a Covid-delayed Carabao Cup semi-final deservedly in Liverpool’s favour.

The Portugal forward scored in each half, with VAR confirming he was onside for a 77th-minute clincher. Liverpool, who had been unable to travel to London two weeks ago because of illness, now take on Chelsea at Wembley in a competition they last won in 2012.

Arsenal, controversially unable to get a team together themselves to face Tottenham last weekend, ended with 10 men when substitute Thomas Partey was sent off. The midfielder had only just got back from the Africa Cup of Nations but was dismissed for two bad fouls in the last three minutes.

Liverpool, with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah still out in Cameroon with their respective nations, opted to begin without Takumi Minamino following his open goal miss in the goal-less first leg, and gave 17-year-old Kaide Gordon a go up front in the absence of the injured Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Andrew Robertson’s upending of Bukayo Saka in the D put Liverpool under instant pressure and goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher was relieved to see Alexandre Lacazette’s languidly dinked free-kick bounce back off the bar in the fifth minute.

Liverpool’s response was to put the ball in the Arsenal net through Joel Matip’s tap-in of Fabinho’s header from a corner. The defender was clearly offside however. It was there again in the 19th minute and this time the goal stood. All credit belonged to Jota, who cut in at speed from the left to jink his way past a host of challengers.

The shot that followed was no net-buster yet still managed to elude the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. A future England number one should certainly have done better.

Fabinho had to stick out a leg to halt Gabriel Martinelli’s burst into the box beyond Virgil van Dijk as Arsenal tried to rekindle their earlier dominance but Liverpool, with Curtis Jones increasingly influential in midfield, allowed them no opportunities before the break.

Liverpool swapped the out-of-sorts Matip for Ibrahima Konate at the start of the second period but it was not long before they had another Lacazette-flavoured lucky escape. This time the France striker fired over with all the goal to aim at. So did Gordon from an even better position at the other end, with the youngster leaning back to scoop over after Jota had done the hard work on the left flank by bamboozling Ben White for a pull-back.

Another Liverpool chance evaporated thanks to Jones’ poor touch in the box but the midfielder robbed Takehiro Tomiyasu to put Arsenal under pressure again. Ramsdale cleaned out team-mate Kieran Tierney with a punch away and Konate was denied by a post when he met the resulting corner with a thumping header.

Ramsdale blocked a follow-up from Jordan Henderson, who was offside, but Arsenal were certainly living dangerously. Emile Smith Rowe had hardly been in the game and blasted well over from an Arsenal corner but Trent Alexander-Arnold’s superb ball into the Gunners box only just eluded Gordon, who was then replaced by Minamino for the final 25 minutes.

The newcomer couldn’t get enough power to wrap the tie up following more good work from Jota and Alexander-Arnold and Martinelli forced Kelleher into a tip-over to keep the tie poised.

Arsenal sent on Partey and Eddie Nketiah for the final 15 minutes but straight away Jota nipped in behind the Arsenal backline to chest down another superb Alexander-Arnold delivery from the right and then deftly chipping over the advancing Ramsdale. VAR overturned a raised flag and the tie was Liverpool’s. Partey fouled Neco Williams and then Fabinho to replicate the red card Granit Xhaka picked up in the first leg and spoil Arsenal’s night even further.

By Kat Lucas, i sports journalist

Arteta might not lose sleep over any of this. He has already won an FA Cup, even if it was a few months into his reign and told us little about the club’s progress. Of more immediate concern is that Arsenal have not won since Boxing Day, and playing quite well for 45 minutes against Manchester City does not really count.

The League Cup matters. Klopp might not quite believe it himself; the Liverpool fans singing of Wembley in an extended corner of the Emirates certainly do. It is a decade since the Reds lifted the trophy and they haven’t won an FA Cup since 2006. The juggernauts of the past decade, Manchester City and Chelsea have won the domestic cups a combined nine times in that period.

It is hard to shake the feeling, nonetheless, that a Wembley showpiece matters to Liverpool, but for a manager in serious need of memory-making, it would have meant more to Arteta.

Read i’s full analysis here.