Mohamed Salah scored his 26th goal of the season as Liverpool overturned Tottenham Hotspur’s merit of winning their semi-cultivated Carabao Cup and set up an opposite to Newcastle United at Wembley.
The Egyptian striker was sensationally in sensational form and was not wrong about the penalty spot at Anfield after Cody Gakpo opened the scoring in the 34th minute.
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Tottenham had a 1-0 lead from the first leg on Jan. 8 thanks to a past goal from Lucas Bergvall, but Ange Postocoglou’s appearance never controlled and he couldn’t sign up for a chance to score until the first leg.
Shortly before that, Dominik Szoboszlai had converted Arne Slot’s team 3-0-3-1 into aggregate, after a well-worked decision. Cabezo hard in the 81st minute.
Newcastle booked their place at Wembley on Wednesday when they beat Arsenal 2-0 at St James’ Park to secure a 4-0 aggregate win over Mikel Arteta’s side. The latter will take his position at Wembley on Sunday, March 16.
Athletics’ Gregg Evans and Jay Harris Discuss Speech Points. . .
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Everything you want to know about the Carabao Cup final
It would possibly still seem a little early for Anfield to start getting excited, however, this Liverpool team has the creation of an all-conquering team.
The Carabao Cup is the closest direction to a trophy and Liverpool, like the headlines, made their transparent intentions carry the final.
History tells us that it takes more time before a season can be fully defined, but that the slot team is letting itself rise in its quest for glory.
Six transparent problems in the most sensible of the Premier League and with a game in hand, Liverpool are at their destination. It already seems like a case where they’re going to be crowned champions, rather than if.
The fact that they have taken up to the last 16 of the Champions League is also an impressive achievement in the complicated series of accessories they have faced.
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It was intended to be a transitional season, however, the slot hasn’t backed down since moving to Merseyside and his squad is pumped up, the glorious game attacking football and sweltering parties at war with his relentless career.
Curtis Jones Liverpool’s heartbeat in the middle of the park, but even the sidelined players stepped in to make a difference. Conor Bradley returned to high-level form with a competitive and tough display at right-back and Darwin Nunez, a crowd favourite, worked tirelessly to torment Tottenham’s backline.
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In this kind of form, Liverpool have fears of parties at war for anyone.
Gregg Evans
This is a massive week for Tottenham and Postcoglou, and they failed their first test.
That leg moment in the semi-finals, the soft one at the end of the tunnel after weeks of battling an injury crisis. If they can see Liverpool and succeed in the final, all the pain would be valuable.
With Micky Van de Ven, Cristian Romero, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke starting XI for a possible last opposite to Newcastle, they would have been filled with hope of lifting a trophy for the first time since 2008.
Instead, they have a few days to lick their wounds from that humiliating defeat before facing Aston Villa in the fourth FA Cup on Sunday. Liverpool suffocated the spurs and prevented them from gaining control over the game, as noted in the statistics below.
Tottenham’s passive technique was understandable in the first half when they had an advantage, especially considering the fact that Richarlison looked sluggish even before he was injured just before the set. However, it will be frustrating for the spurs enthusiasts that they don’t threaten goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after Salah’s penalty gave Slot’s Sweet the edge over the pack.
Spurs will need to focus on the FA Cup and Europa League and ensure that this crushing defeat does not break their already fragile confidence.
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Jay Harris
There he stood, calm as you wish, anxiety in the world.
It’s up to Salah to convert what looked like a penalty, against KOP, and put Liverpool in front, and maybe he asked for a more clinical kick?
Not only did he send Antonin Kinsky the way, but he also hit his kick with such speed and precision that no goalkeeper on the Global would have avoided it.
— Sky Sports Football (@skyfootball) February 6, 2025
Salah’s record there this season is impressive. He scored 8 times and missed one opposite Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Its shape is also a main explanation why Liverpool is competing for the quad. In the box alone, he got 12 goals and recorded nine assists in just 17 appearances.
Gregg Evans
Back on the left wing this season and fit.
Gakpo is Liverpool’s reliable lord, stepping up when he fears with goals that supercharge his season.
It didn’t take long for him to recognize that Gakpo’s most productive paintings are produced when he cuts the left than to take on a central role.
It is true that it is a slow start to the season. The Dutchman has failed to score in 12 of the first thirteen games in which he has appeared under the slot, but since the end of October he has reached peak form.
He is the most sensible scorer in this year’s Carabao Cup pic. twitter. com/za4tmxgevz
— Sky Sports Football (@skyfootball) February 6, 2025
Now, with 16 goals in all competitions, he has already equalled last season in general and especially for Liverpool, it seems that when he is more affluent.
His opening play at Anfield made him the first Liverpool player to score goals in a Simpulia League Cup season since Robbie Fowler in 2000–01.
He is also now the most sensible scorer in the competition and has been a key component of Liverpool’s progress to the final.
Gregg Evans
Tottenham’s biggest challenge is their inability to keep the ball. When they regained possession, Liverpool forced Djed Spence and Archie Gray to play with goalkeeper Kinsky.
With limited passing options, Kinsky would kick the ball for a long time, where Van Dijk would inevitably win the aerial duel with Richarlison or Dejan Kulusevski. Sunday, however, was the culprit for looking to dribble past the warring parties on Thursday night.
Perhaps that’s why Postecoglou shifted him to the right at the moment in the middle, where the chances of wasting the ball in positions damaging to the Spurs were mitigated, however, he can use his speed to beat Andrew Robertson.
Spurs enjoyed limited good fortune in the rare events that tried to play the ball forward in midfield as well. For example, new signing Kevin Danso passed Nunez to Nunez in the 29th minute and passed the ball to Kulusvski on the line of contact. Kulusevski exhausted, lost the ball and within 30 seconds Szoboszlai “scored”, but the flag went up for offside.
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The spurs were absolutely caught in their own part, no matter what they tried. Even though they paid the value towards the end of the first half when Yves Bissouma could have made an undeniable pass to Pape Sarr. It was his teammate, Liverpool picked up the ball and charged into the box into Tottenham’s vacant midfield. Salah’s cross fell on Gakpo, which caused the damage.
It is not unexpected that Sarr and Bissouma were transported for Pedro Porro and Bergvall just 10 minutes after half of the moment, either injury recently and obviously not 100%.
Jay Harris
Slots, speaking to ITV: “It’s great to play a final. We come every day, we review to improve the team, the players try so hard to improve, but at the end of the day, it’s about achieving the achievement Finals and winning things.
“We are pleased to have a chance, however, we are also opposed to a very, very strong Newcastle team.
“It’s a complete, dominant functionality of ours. “
Postecoglou, speaking to ITV: “Hard night. Credit to Liverpool, they were too smart for us tonight. We could never dominate the game with or without the ball. We just allowed them to take control early and that was achieved by Calling for us to get into the game.
“The first two goals we could have done better, but at the end of the day, what was vital was that we had never played with our identity and our strengths and that we’re straying from the challenge a little bit.
“In general, we didn’t start well and we were too passive and let Liverpool get into a rhythm. We still have competitions to play to start on Sunday. With the opportunities we still have, we have to go our own way to locate other tactics to win games.
Sunday 9 February: Plymouth Argyle (away), FA Cup Fourth Round, 3pm GMT, 10am ET
Sunday 9 February: Aston Villa (away), FA Cup Round Four, 17:35 GMT, 12:35 ET