Arsenal have confirmed the dates for the Carabao Cup semi-final double-header with Liverpool.
Emirates Stadium will host the first leg on Thursday, 6 January and travel to Anfield a week later on 13 January. Both games kick-off at 7.45pm and are being broadcast in the UK by Sky Sports.
A host of stars from both sides will be absent due to their involvement in the African Cup of Nations. Arsenal will be without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mo Elneny, Thomas Partey and Nicolas Pepe while the Reds will lose Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita.
There had been suggestions the semi-finals – the other involves Chelsea and Sp*rs – could become single game affairs, however, despite support from Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte, those calls have so far fallen on deaf ears.
2 legs? Why?
TV dollars
Yes the league cup has always been known as a big money maker.
Personally I think it adds a lot of excitement to the competition at this stage – although the away goals rule has been scrapped.
Covid permitting, should be a full house and a fantastic atmosphere in both legs too.
Hoping Arteta fields a strong lineup – I would be inclined to make these fixtures a priority now ahead of the Forest FA Cup fixture sandwiched in-between.
Actually really looking forward to these matches.
“although the away goals rule has been scrapped”
Thought that was a UEFA thing?
I believe they were also scrapped for the League Cup, and the EFL play-offs.
Not sure why. Think it was because if the tie went to extra time, it gave an unfair advantage to the away team as they had an extra 30 minutes to score an away goal.
4 legs good.
2 legs better.
I wanted Arsenal to compete in a format of five games between two big teams like in NBA. You win the series and you prove you are clearly the better team thus my support to Super League. Maybe in FA cup, find a way to dump most teams quickly and have these series between eight or four team.
What about a league season where we just play the same team 38 times, and the whoever wins the most games gets to whip the other team publicly with a live eel?
Also, I’d like it if booby traps were introduced to the football pitch to make the game more exciting, and would like to see half hour ad breaks after each goal. Arsène, make it happen.
It’s always been 2 legs, was 2 legs when we entered. You worried it will interfere with our European commitments?
We need to be solid and sensible in the first leg then smash and grab in the 2nd leg
No, we need a strong lead going to Anfield. They don’t lose there.
Our luck Egypt and Senegal will be out first round and Salah and Mane will be back fully fit for 2nd leg.
So what? About time we beat them, fuck salah and mane.
I think just beating them will be sufficient
Senegal actually has a pretty good team this year, they could well go far.
They’ve had a great team for years now. There’s a reason they are currently Africa’s #1 ranked team. No way are they getting dumped out in the first round.
Not possible. The second leg is on January 13 – and the AFCON group stages run until at least January 17.
Breaking News:
The FA just announced that if both teams are evenly matched after the return leg of the Arsenal vs Liverpool carabao cup semi final, both teams will be separated in a 10 rounder between Klopp and Arteta.
Arteta will probably knock Klopp cold with his death stare.
More problem for Scousers than us, be nice not to have Salah and Mane ripping us up. They’ve also got more concerns at fixture list to try and win league
Perhaps Mo can send Salah a few hospital passes …
If we win, I’m going to buy some Carabao to celebrate.
The fixture congestion combined with the teams we’re playing against is worrying. City, Liverpool, Forest, Liverpool, spurs within a span of 17 days.
We had 6 games less due to no Europe this season in comparson to scousers and 6 other prem clubs.
So I kinda allow myself to be excited about a two-legged semi against a very strong team, rather than bemoan about having to play too many games.
In the end, we like to watch football games, dont we?