Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool: 5 Hits and Flops as Diogo Jota brace takes Reds to final | EFL Cup 2021-22
Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-0, thanks to a brace from Diogo Jota, to seal their berth in the EFL Cup final. The Reds had drawn goalless against the Gunners in the first leg a week ago.
Jota broke the deadlock in the 19th minute after Fabinho's goal was ruled for offside. The Portuguese ace, after some brilliant work from Trent Alexander-Arnold, muscled his way forward before opening the scoring on the night. Although he did not make the cleanest of connections, it was enough to wrong-foot Aaron Ramsdale, whose positioning is up for debate.
Arsenal tried to get back into the game and even got close to scoring. Gabriel Martinelli was through on goal, but Fabinho put in a vital block to stop him on his tracks.
Liverpool came out all guns blazing following the restart, but Arsenal somehow stood their ground. The Reds, eventually, were awarded for their persistence when Jota lobbed Aaron Ramsdale after receiving a defence-splitting cross from Alexander-Arnold to secure the game.
To exacerbate matters for Arsenal, Thomas Partey picked up his second yellow to get sent off in the 89th minute. He had picked up his first only three minutes earlier.
๐๐'๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐! ๐ด https://t.co/GcEzSitcbY
Liverpool will now face Chelsea in the EFL Cup final. On that note, here's a look at the five hits and flops from either team in the game:
#5 Hit: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
Another game, another fabulous performance by the Scottish international. Andrew Robertson was world-class on the wings. He was astute offensively as well as defensively. He brilliantly neutralised Bukayo Saka. And with Jota drifting towards the centre, Robertson had a lot of space to attack down the flank.
The Scot provided great support to Curtis Jones down the line, and helped the visitors overpower the Gunners in their own box. His reading of the game was exceptional throughout. Robertson won six duels, made three clearances, won two tackles, made two interceptions and recovered the ball seven times throughout the night.
Andy Robertson. World Class. https://t.co/hvVGeKMTAg
#4 Flop: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
Bukayo Saka was unable to impress against Liverpool. He looked completely off-colour. Saka was bland up front, and never posed a threat to Robertson. Moreover, he looked sluggish when tracking back. His link-up play with Martin Odegaard and Alexandre Lacazette was non-existent, to say the least.
Saka was quite isolated on the right. He lost nine duels and was dispossessed twice throughout the game. Additionally, he was the outfield player with the least touches (37) throughout the game among those who played the entire 90 minutes. It was a performance to forget for the 20-year-old.