League Cup Semi-finals Preview

The start of the new year means that we are getting closer to finding out who will win the first piece of silverware in England this season. The EFL Cup starts early in the season and the final is usually held towards the end of February, offering fans the opportunity to get involved in the latter stages of a cup competition without having to wait until the end of the season. Let’s take a look at the upcoming semi-finals!

The prize for the winner, apart from the financial aspect and raising a trophy, is a place in Europe, so this ‘lesser’ cup competition often encourages smaller teams to prioritise it. Over recent years clubs such as Southampton, Swansea, Cardiff, Bradford, Wigan and Birmingham City have all made it to the final showpiece event and had their day out at Wembley, with Swansea and Birmingham actually managing to win. This year, there are no surprise teams in the last four with Arsenal and Newcastle joined by Tottenham and Liverpool. Liverpool will be hoping to hold on to the trophy they won last year, meaning that Klopp’s last trophy might be Slot’s first. Tottenham fans are desperate for any silverware and this is surely one of their best opportunities to win something, and the same can be said for Newcastle, whose new owners would love to win a first trophy after losing out to Manchester United in this competition’s final two seasons ago. The second legs of these matches will be played in the first week of February.

Arsenal vs Newcastle

Emirates Stadium, Tuesday @21:00

Arsenal might welcome the distraction of the cup competition following another frustrating draw in the league at the weekend. They were held by Brighton and missed a chance to get closer to Liverpool at the top of the table. All focus must now be on this match as they face an in-form Newcastle side in this first leg and they will want to take an advantage with them when they head up to Newcastle in a few weeks time. Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 13 games in all competitions and are hoping to reach their first EFL Cup final since 2017/18. They also have an excellent home record against Newcastle, unbeaten in 13 matches at the Emirates stadium against their opponents, winning twelve of those matches. Set pieces have been key to Arsenal’s success this season and they will also be relieved that Gabriel Jesus has once again found his goalscoring boots, but Bukayo Saka will certainly be a miss for them over the coming weeks. 

This will be Newcastle’s second visit to North London in the last seven days following their win over Tottenham last week in the league. They are one of the form teams in the country, winning their last six matches, and will be hopeful of breaking the pattern of poor results when playing Arsenal in London. The fact they have no major injury list to contend with this season is significant and a number of their players have been on top form, in particular England winger Anthony Gordon and striker Alexander Isak. They will probably have to manage without number one goalkeeper Nick Pope but have an able deputy in Martin Dubravka who has a solid defence in front of him. 

Arsenal are understandably favourites to win this first leg, but who wins the tie overall is another matter.  Arsenal have won six of the last ten meetings with Newcastle managing three wins. 

Tottenham vs Liverpool

Tottenham Stadium, Wednesday @21:00

Having reached the semi-finals, Tottenham can almost feel their opportunity to grab their first trophy since 2007/08, which was also the League/EFL Cup. They face a very difficult task though in overcoming the best team in England this season, Liverpool. They must also try to win this semi-final while continuing to contend with a worrying list of unavailable players. They are on a four match winless run since their 4-3 win over Manchester United in the quarter-finals and have a squad that is ravaged by both injury and illness. They have moved quickly in the transfer market, adding goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky to their ranks as both Vicario and backup Fraser Forster are unavailable. There will surely be more incomings in the next weeks but not in time to play this match. They continue to fire in an attacking sense with Dominic Solanke performing well up front, he will relish the opportunity to add more to his tally against former club Liverpool. Star man Dejan Kulusevski is likely to be the key player going forward and Spurs fans will hope for more from the likes of Son and Maddison. 

Liverpool were somewhat stunned at the weekend as they were unable to beat Manchester United at home, although the result doesn’t really impact their impressive PL title charge. If they are able to manage an away win against this out of sorts Tottenham side, they will go into the second leg at home in a few weeks as overwhelming favourites to make it back to back final appearances in this competition. Should they avoid defeat in this match it will mean they have managed a ten game unbeaten run in this competition. Liverpool are unbeaten away from home since April, a very impressive run indeed. Cody Gakpo has managed four goals in this competition already and, having also scored at the weekend, he will hope to keep his place in the team and add to that tally. 

Despite being away from home, their recent record and Tottenham’s troubles of late mean that Liverpool are quite strong favourites to win this match. The last meeting between these two was only a few weeks ago, a bonkers 6-3 away win for Liverpool. The Reds have won seven of the last ten meetings between these two whereas Tottenham only have the one win. 

PS: The odds might have changed since the writing and publication of this article.

Last Updated: 07.01.2025