DBasia.news – Arsenal successfully held Liverpool to a draw at Anfield, Friday (14/01), in the first leg of the League Cup semifinal. The Gunners played a goalless draw and that result could be a positive capital for the second leg at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal became the first team to make Liverpool unable to score at Anfield in all competitions this season. Although Liverpool are without their two stars up front, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, Arsenal are also playing with 10 men.
Liverpool dominated the game as much as 79 percent but could only get one shot on target. Arsenal’s defense of Gabriel, Ben White, Kieran Tierney and Cedric Soares with goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale performed well to limit Liverpool’s attack.
Arsenal have been down to 10 men since 24 minutes and in that situation, plus playing at Anfield, the clean sheets are very good. That situation would not have happened if Granit Xhaka had not carelessly violated Diogo Jota.
Yes, Xhaka again received a red card which added to his card acquisition at Arsenal. It was the fifth red card and two of them this season. In addition, no one has received a red card more than Xhaka since he made his debut in the 2016-17 season.
English football pundit Jamie Carragher said that Xhaka’s red card should no longer be tolerated. Arsenal had to kick Xhaka who could not be an example for young players.
“The problem with Xhaka is that we said before the game that every manager chose him, he is a good character, a good coach, a good boy, he is a good player, we have seen him in the Switzerland shirt and at times in the Arsenal shirt too. said Carragher on Sky Sports.
“But he was volatile in that regard tonight. We can talk about how great Arsenal are, they are fantastic but more often than not, you play with ten men at Anfield, you don’t just lose, you get knocked out of the competition.
“Really, Liverpool in such a situation should be looking to win a game two or three empty. It happened because Arsenal had ten players and it happened too often.”
“We talked about how well Arsenal played against Manchester City, but it’s Xhaka again and it’s happening too often now.
“He’s not even a young lad that you think is fine, he will learn with experience, he’s one of your experienced players.
“That’s the only thing that continues to stop Arsenal from making their next move now because I’ve been so impressed with Mikel Arteta and his youth team this season.”