EFL Cup: Liverpool knock out Leicester in thriller; Chelsea, Tottenham in semi-finals

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The Chelsea aspect, who made three teenage debuts, beat Brentford 2-0 on Wednesday (December 22) to succeed in the League Cup semi-finals the place they may face London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

His personal objective, 10 minutes from time by Pontus Johnson, broke the impasse at Brentford earlier than a Jorginho penalty scored a win for Thomas Tuchel’s COVID-hit aspect.

In a thriller at Anfield, a weakened Liverpool aspect got here again from the brink to defeat Leicester City on penalties after a 3–3 draw, establishing a semi-final towards Arsenal.

Jamie Vardy’s opening double gave Leicester a 2–0 lead and James Maddison’s rocket shot made it 3–1 after a objective backed by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

But Diogo Jota scored within the 68th minute earlier than Takumi Minamino scored within the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Minamino then turned down a chance to ship Liverpool within the ensuing penalty shoot-out as he dashed his try on the bar. But Liverpool keeper Kaomahin Kelleher then saved the hassle from Ryan Bertrand, his second save of the shoot-out earlier than Jota transformed it to win for Liverpool.

Last season’s Manchester City runners-up Antonio Conte’s Tottenham made it to the semi-finals with a 2-1 residence win towards West Ham United – all objectives scored within the first half within the span of 5 minutes.

Steven Bergwijn slotted in for his first objective of the season from a in the reduction of from Pierre-mile Hjberg, however West Ham leveled via a well-taken objective from Jarrod Bowen.

Bergwijn then arrange Lucas Moura for the winner.

Arsenal beat third-tier Sunderland on Tuesday.

“It’s good for Tottenham to reach the semi-finals of this competition,” Conte, who has modified the temper at Tottenham since taking on, stated.

“You can see with us the names of those groups which have reached the semi-finals – Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal – so each aspect needs to attempt to raise this trophy. Now I see it very tough to win the trophy in England.

Considering the stress on their respective squads, ties of the night time supplied full worth to followers.

Chelsea made eight adjustments to the squad in a 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers over the weekend, with supervisor Tuchel handing debuts to academy gamers Harvey Vale, Judd Soonsup-Bell and Xavier Simmons.

Tuchel later launched regulars Jorginho, Reece James, Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante from the bench and it proved decisive for Chelsea.

It was a cross from James’ proper aspect that Johnson reduce into his personal objective and Jorginho tucked a trademark spot kick.

“It was a great result, given the circumstances, the line-up and the position,” Tuchel stated. “Some of the players who played were young and others didn’t have many minutes, but they hit a tough spot.”

Liverpool made 10 adjustments to the aspect that began Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham, with solely Tyler Morton remaining.

And when Vardy scored twice within the opening 13 minutes, it seemed like Juergen Klopp’s aspect was on the way in which out.

But Minamino despatched the tie right into a penalty with a superb objective and stand-in keeper Kelleher proved the hero with two saves to interrupt Leicester’s hearts.

“I’m really, really happy. Really happy with the performance, with the emotion, with the mindset, with football in many moments,” Klopp stated.

The semi-finals are scheduled for 2 phases in January, though Klopp says he would favor only one sport beneath the present circumstances.

“I think it would be better with one game, of course, but obviously what I say is not very important, so if there are two games we play two games,” he stated.

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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS

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