Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle discover their Carabao Cup fate as semi-final draw done
Yesterday at 05:44 PM
The Carabao Cup final could see a north London derby with Arsenal and Tottenham avoiding each other in the semi-final draw.
Spurs’ reward for their win over Manchester United is a two-legged tie… against Premier League and Champions League leaders Liverpool.
Meanwhile, the other tie sees Arsenal, who haven’t won the competition since 1993, lock horns with Newcastle.
The semi-final ties will take place over two legs across the week commencing January 6 and the week commencing February 3.
The winner of both ties will compete in the final at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, March 16.
Spurs secured a blockbuster 4-3 win over the Red Devils who saw their fans unfurl a banner aimed at Marcus Rashford ahead of kick-off.
It came 24 hours after Arsenal saw off Crystal Palace with a 3-2 win to earn their spot in the final four.
Meanwhile Newcastle beat Brentford 3-1 at St James’ Park, while Liverpool earned a 2-1 victory over Southampton to progress.
Liverpool are the defending champions of the competition having beaten Chelsea 1-0 in last season’s final.
The Reds are also the record winners of the competition, securing League Cup glory on ten occasions.
Thursday night’s Carabao Cup action was a thriller for the neutral with seven goals flying in at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But supporters of both clubs will have been tearing their hair out during the game as questionable defending and goalkeeping the major factor behind the goal count.
Carabao Cup semi-final draw
Ties to be played w/c January 6 and w/c February 3
Arsenal vs Newcastle
Tottenham vs Liverpool
Spurs went 1-0 up at half time through Dominic Solanke’s poacher’s goal after Red Devils goalkeeper Altay Bayindir parried Pedro Porro’s long-range effort into the forward’s path.
A poor clearance by Lisandro Martinez allowed Dejan Kulusevski to smash in Spurs’ second before Solanke put them 3-0 up.
But it was the home side’s turn to shoot themselves in the foot defensively as two woeful errors by Fraser Forster saw Joshua Zirkzee and Amad Diallo breathe new life into the contest.
Heung-min Son then restored Spurs’ two-goal advantage with a goal directly from a corner with Bayindir once again found wanting.
Jonny Evans’ stoppage-time header made it a nervous finish but Spurs held out to keep their hopes of a first trophy since 2008 alive.