Liverpool beat West Ham in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup and celebrate their progress. What do the semi-final pairings look like?

The English League Cup had quarter-finals on the schedule in the current week. After three matches on Tuesday, the Carabao Cup concluded on Wednesday evening with Liverpool and West Ham. The Reds are delighted with their progress after a 5-1 win. Which semi-final pairings were determined by the subsequent draw?

Liverpool – West Ham United

Liverpool’s Elliott had the first significant scoring opportunities in the opening quarter of an hour. His attempts from the edge of the sixteen from the 10th and 14th minute flew just wide of the post.

Dominik Szoboszlai opened the scoring and sent the Merseyside club into a deserved lead in the 28th minute. The Hungarian summer signing for Klopp’s team gave goalkeeper Areola no chance with a precise shot from outside the box.

West Ham were hit by inaccuracies in combination. Moyes’ charges were unable to develop a more coherent offensive pressure. On the contrary, they had to defend their opponents’ offensive efforts. For example, a minute before the end of the half, Gakpo’s header just missed the right post.

The home side also entered the second half better. Three minutes after the break, Núñez forced the goalkeeper to intervene with a shot under the crossbar. The joy of a 2-0 goal was shared by the Anfield Road crowd in the 56th minute. Curtis Jones ran onto a pass behind the defence into the penalty area on the left and sent the ball into the net from a sharp angle between Areola’s legs.

Liverpool’s dominance of the game continued and brought a third goal in the 71st minute. Cody Gakpo leaned into the ball from the large whitewash and directed it uncatchably towards the front post. Shortly afterwards, Kehrer replaced Coufal in a not-so-good Hammers defence.

In the 77th minute, Jarrod Bowen managed to reduce the deficit with a neat shot into the right side of Kelleher’s net. At the beginning of the last ten minutes of regulation time, Mohamed Salah could have given the Reds back a three-goal lead, but he couldn’t finish his shot off Núñez’s shot into the bar.

The star Egyptian didn’t have to mourn for long, however, as he successfully finished off a breakaway from the middle of the park in the 82nd minute. Jones followed it up two minutes later with his second goal of the night, a 5:1 goal, as he calmly walked past his opponents and fired a precise shot with virtually no distractions.

So West Ham took the debacle in the end. In the quarter-final, Liverpool confirmed their role as favourites, which they will be in the next edition of this year’s Carabao Cup, given their current position in the top flight table.

Other quarter-final matches

The other quarter-final matches took place on Tuesday. The duel between the representatives of the lower competitions had a clear winner. Port Vale, a three-league side, lost 0:3 at home to Middlesbrough, who lost 0:3 after goals from Howson, Rogers and Crooks. The current 13th team in the Championship table will play the semi-final of the League Cup after 19 years.

Both the other two confrontations were decided by penalties by Premier League teams. Everton failed to take them on home soil. Adarabioyo scored for Fulham in the eighth series to decide the final result 1: 2.

Chelsea, on the other hand, did not disappoint the fans in their own stadium in the match against Newcastle. After Mudryk scored an equaliser in stoppage time, the same Ukrainian footballer converted a crucial penalty kick in the shootout to make it 2:1.

The semi-final draw

Half an hour after the end of Liverpool’s match against West Ham, the semi-final pairings were drawn. Middlesbrough will play Chelsea and Liverpool will play Fulham in the final.

The semi-final of the Cradle of Football League Cup is played over two matches. Both parts of the double header will take place in January. Wembley Stadium will host the final clash for the trophy on 25 February.

Source: Carabao Cup, Nova Sport 1