Carabao Cup semi-final draw LIVE: Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle and Tottenham learn fate
The semi-finals will be played over two legs, with the first leg taking place in the week commencing 6 January
Newcastle United will face Arsenal while Liverpool take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Newcastle have high hopes of ending their 69-year wait for a major domestic trophy and the Magpies will face Mikel Arteta’s side for a place at Wembley, while Tottenham’s reward for a chaotic 4-3 win over Manchester United will be a tie against holders Liverpool - who they face in the Premier League on Sunday.
Newcastle defeated Brentford 3-1 on Wednesday night while Gabriel Jesus scored a hat-trick to help Arsenal to a 3-2 victory over Crystal Palace. Premier League leaders Liverpool continued their Carabao Cup defence by beating Southampton 2-1.
The semi-final ties take place over two legs –with the first leg in early January and the second leg in early February. The first silverware of the season is contested as the final takes place at Wembley on Sunday 16 March.
Follow the Carabao Cup draw with our live blog below:
Carabao Cup semi-final draw
So, here’s the full draw (all two games of it...), with the teams listed first having the home leg first. Remember, the semi-finals will be played over two legs across the week commencing 6 January and the week commencing 3 February. The winners will battle it out at Wembley Stadium in the final on 16 March.
Arsenal v Newcastle
Tottenham v Liverpool
Eddie Howe hoping for another Carabao Cup run
This is the second time Newcastle have earned a spot in the final four of the Carabao Cup under Howe after they reached the 2022-23 final, but lost to Manchester United.
The two-legged semi-final ties are set to be played in January and February next year and the Newcastle boss believes the cup can be something for the team to “look forward to” in the midst of their league campaign.
Howe said: “I think it’s a really good thing for us currently, because it’s on the horizon.
“It keeps a positive feel as something to look forward to, while knowing we need to do work in the Premier League to get our position where we want it to be.
“I think when you look at us play at our best, there’s no reason why we can’t improve our position and be really competitive in the semi-final.”
‘Are you not entertained?’ Postecoglou praises Tottenham’s spirit
“I like the whole game. Are you not entertained? I know the studio is probably having a meltdown over my lack of tactics,” Ange Postecoglou told Sky Sports after the 4-3 win over Manchester United.
“We’ve got so many absences at the moment, centre halves, kids on the bench. If we get through the period we’re going to get enormous growth out of it.
“I really liked how we played tonight, obviously those moments tainted it a bit and that has happened this season before and it doesn’t help our consistency, but the mentality of the boys... I love it.”
Meanwhile, Dominic Solanke said it was important for Tottenham to stick together and come back against Manchester United after Fraser Forster’s mistakes.
“Being 3-0 up we could have dealt with the game better, killed some time but we made it hard for ourselves, but the important thing is we won and we’re through,” the two-goal striker said to Sky.
“That’s football sometimes, we stick together. Mistakes are a part of football, we dug in, we showed spirit and got the job done.
“Scoring against a team like United is great but the most important thing is to win today and getting to the semi-final.”
Arsenal delighted as Gabriel Jesus ‘back at his best'
Mikel Arteta said Gabriel Jesus is “back at his best” after the Brazilian’s brilliant second-half hat-trick fired Arsenal into the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Jesus headed into the last-eight fixture with only two goals this year, prompting Arteta to insist he would not be sold when the transfer window opens next month.
And Jesus repaid his manager’s faith with three goals that could breathe new life into not only his stuttering career, but Arsenal’s campaign too.
“I’m so pleased for him,” said Arteta. “It’s been a long period without goals and today, to score three goals, the three types of goals that he scored - and the many actions he was involved in - he looked very sharp.
“It’s a great thing for him and the team that we can rely on a player of such quality. Gabi at that level is a big asset for us. It is a big message for the team that we have Gabi back at his best. It’s now about consistency.
“This moment of spark will bring so much confidence to him. Now we need to take it and give him more games and chances. When a player is in that moment, it’s important for them to continue.”
Ruben Amorim defends Manchester United ‘control’ amid ‘chaos'
In his press conference, Ruben Amorim admitted that Manchester United “disconnected for eight minutes” in the second half but said that his team were better than Tottenham for most of the game.
“I didn’t feel like it was [chaotic],” he said after the 4-3 defeat. “The 8 minutes of the second half was like that because we were losing a lot of balls in transitions. But I thinl we were controlling things during almost all the game, playing the same way, trying to find the spaces. I can feel it.
“For the fans it was like that [chaotic] because there’s a lot of goals and one team is recovering from 3-0, but I saw a team that knows what what we what we want to do and so it was not chaotic in my opinion. I could not see the chaos in my team.”
Arne Slot rotates as Liverpool reach semi-finals
Arne Slot was happy with Liverpool’s progress to the semi-finals and the Dutchman said squad rotation, which included a full debut for 17-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni, was key during a busy period of the season.
“It would be normal if I play all the regular starters that we have a better team than we had tonight, otherwise I make every week the wrong decision,” said Slot.
“But we also trust these players because we know how much quality they have, so that’s the first reason to play these players, that we have a lot of confidence in them.
“Second of all, it’s not about a result on Sunday (away to Tottenham), it’s more for the long-term fitness of the players that we make the decision that the ones that played so many minutes to give them a bit of rest during this week because the schedule is going to be intense again in the upcoming weeks.”
Newcastle inch closer to ending seven-decade trophy drought
Sandro Tonali’s double helped Newcastle secure their spot in the Carabao Cup semi-finals with a 3-1 win over Brentford.
Tonali put the Magpies ahead with a brilliant first-time strike and the Italy midfielder bagged his brace just before half-time from Anthony Gordon’s corner.
Fabian Schar extended the lead after the break with a tidy tap-in before Yoane Wissa earned a consolation for the Bees in added time.
Victory sends Newcastle one step closer to ending their 69-year wait for a major domestic trophy.
Newcastle inch closer to ending seven-decade trophy drought as Tonali downs Brentford
Newcastle 3-1 Brentford: The Magpies marched into the Carabao Cup semi-finals as Italy international Tonali stepped up
Ruben Amorim will ‘never speak about referees’ despite Spurs goal
Ruben Amorim made a promise not to speak about referees despite Tottenham’s controversial fourth goal of their win against Manchester United.
Amorim suffered the third defeat of his United tenure but had no issue with Tottenham’s fourth, despite protestations from Altay Bayindir.
“I never speak about referee’s and I will not start now,” Amorim insisted. “I will try to maintain that for a long time.”
“The lads did a great job to recover and we were so near the draw, so near and it could make the difference because we still have time to win the game, but then the fourth goal was really hard for us.”
Gabriel Jesus offers timely solution to Arsenal’s goalscoring woes in Carabao Cup triumph
Gabriel Jesus scored a second-half hat-trick as Arsenal staged an impressive fightback to book their place in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup with a 3-2 win against Crystal Palace.
The home side were staring at an underwhelming exit from the competition at half-time after Jean-Philippe Mateta’s opener for Palace inside just four minutes.
But Jesus, who had scored just once this season heading into Wednesday’s fixture, fired a treble in the second period with substitutes Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka both central to his haul.
Gabriel Jesus offers timely solution to Arsenal’s goalscoring woes in Carabao Cup win
Arsenal 3-2 Crystal Palace: Jesus netted a second-half hat-trick as the Gunners came from a goal down to march into the semi-finals
Harvey Elliott shines brightest as Liverpool sneak through Carabao Cup test
After a full and imposing pre-season under his belt, Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott had lofty ambitions this season. Could he crack a regular starting spot? The diminutive left-footed playmaker, signed amid so much promise from Fulham five years ago, certainly would not have anticipated his first start of the season coming in mid-December. But on a torrential night on the south coast, Elliott shone brightest as the Carabao Cup holders, ultimately, sneaked through at Southampton on Wednesday night.
Harvey Elliott shines brightest as Liverpool sneak through Carabao Cup test
Southampton 1-2 Liverpool: Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott score the goals as the holders progress to the final four despite a second-half onslaught from the Saints
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