Key events
50 min: Ngumoha nips in from the left and draws a clumsy foul from Acheampong, who goes into the book. A free kick to be swung in by Tsimikas.
48 min: Rogers brings the ball down with his arm – inadvertently, to be fair – and peals a shot towards the top right. Mamardashvili turns it around the post, and nothing comes of the resulting corner. No VAR, remember, so Liverpool had to suck that one up.
47 min: Rogers gets the break of a lucky deflection down the inside-left channel. If he turns on the jets, he’s free, so it’s a bit unlike him to look around with uncertainty, then take a heavy touch that sends the ball through to Mamardashvili. That was a good opportunity.
Chelsea get the second half at Anfield started. No changes. The visitors kicking towards the Kop now.
Turns out that Cherki free kick came off Vitor Reis, so it’s the young defender’s goal. Cherki unlikely to care too much as City continue to press forward, now after a winner.
The holders Manchester City are level again at the Etihad. A deflected Rayan Cherki free kick, after Phil Foden’s incisive run, and Brighton are pegged back to 2-2 with just under 20 minutes to play.
Half-time postbag. “The game seems to have gone to penalties a tad early” – Ian Copestake
“Wow, this game is atrocious. I started typing that before the first penalty, but just how poor and stupid a foul that is for the penalty kind of puts the icing on the cake” – Richard South
“This game doesn’t cut the mustard. If this match is a hot dog, I’ll take one with Henderson’s relish and Liverpool catch-up” – Peter Oh
Another goal for Bournemouth against five-time winners Aston Villa. Lewis Cook has made it 2-0 to the home side at Dean Court.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea
A couple of penalties, tied up in pretty bows.
45 min +3: Koumas steals the ball off Gusto and launches an attack down the right. He rolls infield for Gakpo, who should power into space down the middle, but inexplicably leaves the ball behind. A big chance for one late first-half counter passed by.
45 min +2: As Colwill hobbles off, clutching the back of his left leg, Liverpool waste the corner.
45 min +1: Lacroix pulled up while chasing Gakpo there. A hamstring problem by the looks of it. He’s immediately hooked and on comes Colwill.
45 min: … but before the corner can be taken, Lacroix goes down holding the back of his left leg. On comes the physio. There will be three additional minutes.
44 min: A couple of daft penalties to concede. And now Chelsea are rocking. Gakpo’s long-distance drive is clawed away by Penders; Ngumoha’s shot from a tight angle on the left is deflected over for a corner …
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea (Gakpo 43 pen)
Gakpo sweeps the spot kick into the bottom left, Penders having been sent the wrong way. That’s his seventh League Cup goal at Anfield, and 11th overall! It’s one gift apiece!
Penalty for Liverpool!
42 min: Tsimikas swings the corner in. Van Dijk rises in the hope of heading goalwards. He misses, but Fofana is behind him, arm up, and swats away. The referee points straight to the spot.
41 min: Liverpool respond by going long down the right. A throw. Gomez flings it in. It’s half cleared. Nyoni shoots from the edge of the D. The ball deflects wide left off Fofana, and from the corner, swung in from the left …
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea (Rogers 40 pen)
… opens his body and firmly plants the penalty into the right-hand corner, Mamardashvili having been sent the other way. Chelsea lead!
39 min: Henderson makes as though he’s going to take the spot kick … much to the irritation of the home fans … but eventually he hands the ball over to Rogers. Who …
Penalty for Chelsea!
38 min: Gusto cuts in from the left and plays a cute reverse ball down the channel for Caicedo, who is running away from goal … but is crudely clipped from behind by Gravenberch. A totally pointless challenge, and a gift for the visitors! Gravenberch has the good grace to look embarrassed.
36 min: Brighton have started the second half at the Etihad in style. Georginio Rutter puts the Seagulls back in front against Manchester City: 1-2.
35 min: … and Henderson nearly gets the last laugh, latching onto Gomez’s poor ball out from the back and setting Chelsea on the attack. But Rogers welts a poor cross from the left out for a throw on the other side.
34 min: Henderson is getting the what-for from his old fans. And if that’s not bad enough for the former Liverpool captain, here’s Ian Copestake to riff on his pain: “Little wonder Henderson is not happy. He’s playing for Chelsea.” See what he’s got to put up with?
32 min: Gusto’s careless backpass gifts Liverpool a corner. Fofana and Penders a bit slow to react, too. Gakpo can’t beat the first man with his delivery from the right, though. Perhaps he’d be better deployed in the box, seeing he’s already got ten career League Cup goals for Liverpool?
30 min: Koumas bustles down the right and wins a throw. Gomez launches it long, and the ball pings around the Chelsea six-yard box before Fofana can hoick clear. This is not a classic. Not yet.
29 min: Brentford aren’t done quite yet. Callum Wilson reduces their arrears at Sunderland to 3-1. Goals everywhere but Anfield.
28 min: Ngumoha takes on Acheampong down the left and wins Liverpool another corner. Tsimikas’s delivery isn’t great, but Nyoni recovers the clearance 40 yards from goal … only to butcher the chance to release Gakpo down the middle. Penders still hasn’t been put to work.
26 min: The goals are flying in elsewhere. Malick Fofana has put Sunderland 3-0 up at home to Brentford, while Eddie Nketiah has given Crystal Palace a 37th-minute lead at Fulham.
24 min: Rogers and Araujo tangle as the former drives into the Liverpool box from the left. Rogers goes over and demands a penalty; the referee waves play on. No VAR, so there’s no second chance for Chelsea … and there was some contact. As ever with refereeing decisions these days, nobody knows anything. You’ve seen them given.
23 min: Ngumoha glides down the left and feeds Tsimikas on the overlap. Tsimikas’s low cross is easily intercepted and cleared, much to the Kop’s displeasure. Lovely initial surge by Ngumoha, though.
22 min: From the resulting free kick, Caicedo scuffs a poor shot wide left. That’s the first effort from either side, and it wasn’t very good. Onwards and upwards.
21 min: McConnell goes haring after his own heavy touch, then swats the ball away from Rogers with his hand. He goes into the book. He can have no complaints.
20 min: Caicedo goes over looking for a foul. He doesn’t get it, and tells it as he sees it to the referee, who thinks about booking him but stops at a lecture. Caicedo might not have much more rope. The home fans aren’t happy, but then neither is Henderson.
18 min: Tsimikas advances down the left and crosses low. McConnell hovers, so Caicedo is forced to nip in and blooter behind for the first corner of the evening. Gakpo takes, but the whistle goes for a shove by Tsimikas on Gusto.
16 min: McConnell tries to power in from the left but is upended. No foul, and it’s fair to say the Kop haven’t warmed to the referee so far.
14 min: Mateo Kovacic has levelled things up for Manchester City against Brighton. Meanwhile it’s a quickfire double for Sunderland against Brentford: Chemsdine Talbi and Tymur Tutierov with two goals in three minutes. It’s 2-0 to the hosts at the Stadium of Light.
12 min: Gravenberch clips Caicedo just to the right of the Liverpool D. Chelsea want a free kick, but the referee waves play on. Henderson can’t keep the move going. Liverpool get away with one there. Not a banner 60 seconds for the ref, you’d have to say.
11 min: Araujo intercepts 40 yards out, and feeds Koumas ahead of him. Koumas tries to release Gakpo down the middle. The pass doesn’t come off. Lacroix tries to run the ball back upfield, but is blocked by Koumas. It’s a foul; it’s a very harsh booking. But into the book he goes, and it’ll be a long evening for a player with a whole-hearted, no-nonsense pressing style.
9 min: Acheampong takes his time over a throw; then Lacroix gets methodical over a goal kick. The 2014 version of Jose Mourinho would surely approve.
7 min: Tsimikas delivers, but not particularly accurately. Chelsea clear their lines without too much fuss.
6 min: Ngumoha probes down the left and is fairly crudely brought down by Neto, who hangs out a leg to put a stop to the winger’s gallop. A free kick just to the side of the penalty box, which is now full of players of both stripe.
5 min: Some goals elsewhere to report. Amine Adli has given Bournemouth a seventh-minute lead against Aston Villa, while Malick Yalcouye has bundled Brighton & Hove Albion ahead on the half-hour at Manchester City.
4 min: Ngumoha had a great game on the right against Villarreal last week. He’s started out on the left tonight, though. Otherwise, not so much to report in these early exchanges.
2 min: “Do you think Henderson’s relishing his return?” wonder-quips Kevin Dwyer. “Sorry, it’s our favourite condiment.” He was chewing gum quite ferociously as he emerged from the tunnel. He’ll have been thinking about this evening quite a bit, I’ll be bound.
Basque pals Andoni and Xabi embrace warmly … but so much for friendship, because Chelsea turn Liverpool around, so the home side are kicking towards the Kop in this first half. They’re not huge fans of that. They kick off.
The teams are out! Liverpool in red, Chelsea in blue. These lads always look good when they play each other. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes!
Xabi Alonso – a European champion with Liverpool but having suffered two defeats out of two as a visiting manager with Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid – speaks to Sky Sports. “The cups are important for us this year … we have a good challenge here coming to Anfield … it’s make or break … we want to make it happen today … we know we need a great performance … we have taken [this competition] from the beginning seriously … our players have played a few times already here … hopefully they will show it today.”
Pre-match postbag. “I’m loving the balance of experience and youth in the Liverpool starting XI. Jürgen had Klopp’s kids. Arne could have rolled out Slot’s Snappers more often. Today we’ve got Iraola’s Imps!” – Peter Oh
“Looking at the Liverpool line-up, I can only think that Iraola has decided not to risk the prospect of drawing the mighty Fleetwood Town in the next round” – Vanessa Edwards
“For the sake of the integrity of the Carabao Cup I think we are all Brighton fans tonight. If City stay in the competition and then lose their appeal (almost inevitable) then how on earth does that get resolved?” – Rick Harris
“Anfield is nine miles from where I currently slouch and I can feel the anticipation from here. Something might just be afoot. Hope? Hendo also returns. But am glad he has scored his one cracker for the season already” – Ian Copestake (and readers who enjoy making speculative investments may be interested to note that, now Ian’s said that, you can get 28s on Henderson scoring the first goal tonight)
Andoni Iraola speaks to Sky Sports. “We need fresh legs … a lot of players are waiting for this competition to have their starts, their minutes … they are pushing hard … so I have trust that they can perform well … the bench is always important … we have good options … according to how the game goes, we will decide one way or another … we need to keep winning games … we need to keep going … it does not stop … the level of our opposition is very high … everyone has to play their part … I hope today they do … Chelsea have a very strong starting XI … we have to respect them … we have to be at our very best if we want to beat them … we always practice [penalties] … I don’t know if it is better or worse, I think Fleetwood didn’t practice and they were incredible! … but we always do it!”
A reminder that the draw for the quarter-finals will take place tonight. The tombola is scheduled to begin spinning at around 10.20pm UK time, so we can probably add 10-20 minutes to that, The Man is notorious for dragging his feet at these things. There are already two balls in the spinner: Bradford City and Fleetwood Town, the latter having done a proper number on the reigning champions of England last night.
Chelsea make four changes after their 0-2 home reverse to Tottenham Hotspur. Danny Welbeck, Roméo Lavia, Malo Gusto and Wesley Fofana come in for Levi Colwill and Geovany Quenda, who are benched, the injured Jorrel Hato, and the suspended Cole Palmer.
Liverpool make seven changes to their starting XI following the 2-0 win at the weekend over Brighton. Giorgi Mamardashvili, Joe Gomez, Kostas Tsimikas, Trey Nyoni, James McConnell, Lewis Koumas and Rio Ngumoha are in; Alisson, Jérémy Jacquet, Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister, Bradley Barcola and Alexander Isak drop to the bench, while Milos Kerkez misses out altogether.
The teams
Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Gomez, van Dijk, Araujo, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Nyoni, Ngumoha, McConnell, Gakpo, Koumas.
Subs: Alisson, Endo, Jacquet, Wirtz, Isak, Mac Allister, Chiesa, Barcola, Chambers.
Chelsea: Penders, Gusto, Lacroix, Fofana, Acheampong, Henderson, Caicedo, Lavia, Pedro Neto, Welbeck, Rogers.
Subs: Sharman-Lowe, Colwill, Subuloye, Palestra, Barco, Nicoll-Jazuli, Estevao, Quenda, Emegha.
Referee: Darren England.
VAR: No VAR!
Preamble
Welcome to a re-run of this …
… and this …
… the narrative of which can only be successfully told and subsequently analysed through the prism of tonight’s team selections. And let’s face it, you’ll be doing well to predict those accurately. News when we have it, and we’ll take it from there. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
