Understrength Liverpool eases past Saints
Liverpool kept alive its Carabao Cup defence by winning 2-1 at Southampton, with Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott the goalscorers in the first half for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League leader.
The Reds have gone 20 games unbeaten within a single season in all competitions for the first time since 1996, according to Premier League stats supplier Opta.
Things could hardly be going any better for Arne Slot, who fielded a weakened, heavily rotated team featuring Japan midfielder Wataru Endo at centre back, but it still had too much for Southampton.
Nunez particularly enjoyed his goal, which came after he had been jeered by Southampton fans for missing an earlier chance.
After putting Liverpool ahead, he put his finger to his mouth in a “shush” gesture to the home crowd.
Interim coach Simon Rusk took charge of Southampton, the bottom team in the Premier League, after the dismissal of manager Russell Martin on Monday, his dismissal coming in the hours after a 5-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur.
Slot sat in the stands for the match at St. Mary’s Stadium as he was serving a touchline suspension after getting booked for the third time this season last weekend.
Slot appeared to give Southampton a chance by omitting numerous first-team stars, fielding the likes of Tyler Morton and Treymaurice Nyoni from the start, but in fact it was difficult to tell the difference for much of this game, as Liverpool's back-up players served up a mature performance.
Jarell Quansah certainly replaced the distribution of Van Dijk at centre-back, completing 92 passes at a success rate of 95.8 per cent, while Nyoni made his influence felt all over the pitch on full debut, playing 19 of his 59 passes in the final third.
Upfront, it was an authoritative display from experienced duo Nunez and Gakpo. The Uruguayan posted a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 0.76, while Gakpo created more chances (four) than anyone on the pitch.
Those efforts secured Liverpool a third Carabao Cup semi-final in four seasons, with the Reds going on to win the trophy on both of the two previous occasions.
The semi-final draw will be completed after Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United complete the quarter-finals on Friday (AEDT).
