The first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals ended with two upsets; Tottenham winning against Liverpool and Newcastle winning against Arsenal. Both teams won against arguably some of the best in today’s world: Liverpool and Arsenal.
Newcastle came into their match versus Arsenal with a six game winning streak against teams including Aston Villa, Manchester United, and Tottenham. Arsenal statistically dominated the entire game. They had 23 attempted shots and 70% ball possession.
Arsenal, at the time, was placed second in the EPL (European Premier League) whereas Newcastle was sixth. Arsenal also placed fifth in the UCL (UEFA Champions League). Newcastle didn’t even qualify last season. Regardless, Newcastle emerged victorious against Arsenal, a big surprise to many.
Newcastle’s Swedish star striker Alexander Isak netted the first goal in the first 37th minutes. As Newcastle’s top scorer, he currently has 15 goals in the EPL and 2 in the Carabao Cup. This season is expected to be the best of his career. Newcastle’s winger Anthony Gordon scored the second goal of the game around the 50 minute mark, the score 2-0. Arsenal had plenty of goal opportunities as shown by their 3.76 xG (expected goals).
Both teams were coming off of prior disappointing games. Liverpool had a 2-2 draw against Manchester United, a team they beat 3-0 earlier in the season. Tottenham had lost 2-1 to Newcastle. The match between Tottenham and Liverpool was expected to be interesting considering the history between the two teams. Their last match was a nine goal thriller with Liverpool winning 6-3. Yet, similar to Arsenal, Liverpool did not take their chances this time around against Tottenham. They had nearly double as many shots on Tottenham’s goal and a 1.85 xG. They had the potential to win a comfortable 2-1 game.
The controversy in this match comes with a possible second yellow card offense by the game winning scorer and Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall. On a yellow card already, Bergvall made a late tackle on Liverpool left back Kostas Tsimikas, missing the ball. Minutes after the tackle, Bergvall scored the game winner for Tottenham. Former Liverpool defender and current ESPN pundit Steve Nicol said, “He shouldn’t have been on the field.” (referring to Bergvall) The ref’s controversial decision to keep Bergvall on the field and Liverpool’s missed chances are the reasons for Liverpool’s deficit going into the second leg of the semi-final.
