Jota steals the show as Liverpool book their place in Carabao Cup final
Reds to face Chelsea in final at Wembley
Liverpool forward Diogo Jota found the net twice as his side defeated Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates to book their place in the final of the Carabao Cup against Chelsea.
After playing out a drab goalless draw in the first leg at Anfield a week ago, the Reds needed to win away from home to book their place in the final at Wembley.
Both sides looked quite evenly matched in the first leg, but Liverpool quickly laid down a marker at the Emirates as Portuguese forward Diogo Jota put the Reds ahead in the 19th minute of the encounter.
Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold received the ball in space as he drifted into midfield, and the Englishman played in Jota, who cut inside Arsenal right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu with ease before shooting through a sea of Arsenal bodies from just inside the box to open the scoring.
Arsenal did their best to keep up with Liverpool, but the Reds looked like a different team from the one that failed to score a single goal at Anfield just a week ago.
Jota scored Liverpool’s second in the 77th minute to condemn Arsenal to a defeat in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Arsenal youngster Gabriel Martinelli was leading a charge into the Liverpool half of the pitch before tripping over his own feet and falling, losing the ball to Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold. The Englishman immediately spotted the run of Diogo Jota and sent a raking pass over the top to the Portuguese forward, who took a brilliant first touch with his chest before delicately chipping the ball over Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale with his second touch. Jota goal was awarded after a VAR check for offside.
To compound Arsenal’s woes, they finished the game with ten men after substitute Thomas Partey, fresh from being knocked out of AFCON by Comoros, received his marching orders in the 90th minute following two successive bookings in the space of three minutes.
Liverpool have now qualified for a 13th Carabao Cup final in their history and will face Chelsea at Wembley on February 27th for English football’s first silverware of the season.
