New Delhi: The Carabao Cup has reached the semi-final stage as the first leg of the knockout game takes place today. In Tuesday’s fixture, Arsenal will host Newcastle United in the Emirates Stadium. For the second game, defending champions Liverpool will travel to the Tottenham Stadium on Wednesday.
All eight of the quarter-final spots had been booked by the ongoing teams playing in the Premier League. In fact, only Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City and Preston were the second-tier teams who had managed to reach the final-16 stage. Big teams including Manchester City and Chelsea, were missing in the quarter-finals.
Arsenal vs Newcastle (January 8th, 1:30 AM IST)
All-action tomorrow 🔜 pic.twitter.com/Oc5xiWC5GO
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 6, 2025
Arsenal have won three of their last five games across the competition, which includes a draw last weekend against Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League, which left them chasing the Premier League title with a six-point deficit to the top of the table. Arsenal looked uncomfortable and, for the most part, on the back foot, as Brighton’s game could have easily ended in a 2-1 defeat for the Gunners.
Despite everything, they are unbeaten in the last 13 games as they arrive for the first leg of their semi-final fixture, including a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals against Crystal Palace, where Gabriel Jesus, who scored a hattrick. Two days later, Jesus scored a brace against Palace in the Premier League. This was followed by two more wins within a week, and they are now looking for their first League title since 1993.
Newcastle are yet to win the title ever and have, in fact, not won any major trophy except an Intertoto Cup in 2005-06. Back in 2022-23, Newcastle had reached the final of the tournament, only to lose to Manchester United 2-0. In EFL Cup fixtures, they have battled against three Premier League teams, including Nottingham Forest, Chelsea in the round of 16 and Brentford in the quarter-finals.
At the weekend, they won 2-1 against Tottenham Hotspur after strikes from Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak. The win gives them a six-game winning streak across competitions. For the eighth game in a row, they have scored at least twice. They would be much more confident, having already won 1-0 in their first game of the season.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool (January 9th, 1:30 AM IST)
🏆 Carabao Cup Semi-Final appearances:
2⃣0⃣ @LFC
1⃣8⃣ @SpursOfficial
The top two last four appearances of any sides in the competition’s history! 👊#EFL | #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/M4Y6IRb1yS
— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) January 3, 2025
Tottenham Hotspur’s defence has suffered ever since Agnes Postecoglu’s arrival to the side, and their loss against Newcastle was just highlighting that issue even more. Their 2-1 loss them remain in 12th position, 10 points behind the top six, having taken only one point from their previous four games. Playing without a central defender in the second half showed why Tottenham have managed to keep just one clean sheet from 11 games.
While they are nowhere close to dreaming of a Premier League title, Tottenham would need to perform well in this tournament to end their 17-year trophy drought. Tottenham have had a tough tournament so far, having eliminated both Manchester United and Manchester City. Coming as far as the semi-final shows their brilliant performance in the tournament.
Liverpool have been the team to beat this season with an amazing performance in both Champions League and the Premier League, where they are the table leaders. In the EFL Cup, they faced competition from Premier League teams, including West Ham and Brighton. The defending champions have been the most successful team in the tournament, beating Chelsea in both the 2022 and 2024 finals, taking their tally to ten titles.
Before their quarter-final win over Southampton, Liverpool had a slump of two back-to-back draws. The EFL Cup win was followed by a four-game win before Manchester United ended the streak with a 2-2 draw. Their Premier League race with Arsenal would have been close had Arsenal also not drawn against Brighton over the weekend.
When and where to watch the EFL Cup quarterfinal between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United in India?
Tottenham Hotspur will take on Manchester United in the EFL Cup quarter-final on December 19th at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 1 AM IST. Fans can catch the match live streaming on the FanCode app and website in India.
As the four teams take on for the final spot of the Carabao Cup, here’s a look at how the clubs stand before their first-leg of the semi-final of the competition. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
