For daily sports information, please click on the top right corner to follow
At 3:45 a.m. Beijing time on January 14, a match in the first leg of the Premier League Cup semi-final will be contested, liverpool against Arsenal. Liverpool have been in poor form in the league in recent times, and have not won in three consecutive rounds, resulting in the gap being pulled apart by Manchester City, and the prospect of the title race is not optimistic. Arsenal have also been hit in a row recently, losing on both fronts, losing to Manchester City in the league and being eliminated by Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup. Both teams need to regain confidence through victory. There are two main points to watch in this game.
One or two teams are short of major generals, so how will Klopp and Arteta line up?
Salah, Mane and Nabi Keita of Liverpool are all going to the national team to play in the Africa Cup of Nations and they are unable to play in this match against Arsenal. As we all know, salah and Mane are important to Liverpool, especially Salah, who is the pillar of the Liverpool team. Without the two of them, Liverpool are much less powerful on the offensive end. This will test Klopp. With Liverpool's current squad, perhaps Klopp will arrange a forward combination of Chamberlain, Firmino and Jota. However, Klopp also revealed the good news, the two major generals returned, they are Arnold and Alisson. The two of them were previously affected by covid-19 and have now recovered. Arsenal are missing Partey, Aubameyang, Pepe and Hernenni. In contrast, Liverpool will certainly be more negatively affected.
Second, Arsenal have lost to Liverpool for two consecutive times, can they complete their revenge this time?
Arsenal have lost to Liverpool twice in a row before that. In the 30th round of the league last season, Arsenal lost 3-0 at home to Liverpool, passive and faceless. In the 12th round of the Premier League this season, Arsenal played Liverpool away and was even more shutted with four goals, losing 0-4. Liverpool have become Arsenal's big nemesis. Facing an opponent of Liverpool's level is a huge challenge for Arsenal, can this time complete revenge in the absence of the opponent's top scorer?
Now this Arsenal team has improved a lot in all aspects under Arteta's tuning, and the team can always play a smooth attack. In the previous match with Manchester City, Arsenal also played very well, once making Manchester City play very difficult. It was only Gabriel's offload that led to Arsenal's eventual reversal. With the current squad, Liverpool will not be easy to beat Arsenal. Who will perform better in this game, wait and see!