Tottenham Hotspur defeated Liverpool 1-0 in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday night. The Reds came into the fixture as heavy favourites to win, as they had already claimed a 6-3 win over Spurs in a Premier League clash in December.

Liverpool travel down to North London to face Tottenham for the first leg of the semifinals of their Carabao Cup tie.

Follow live coverage as Tottenham Hotspur face Liverpool in the EFL cup. Liverpool are the reigning champions of the competition following an extra time victory over Chelsea at Wembley last term, Virgil van Dijk scoring the decisive goal to secure a record-extending tenth win of this domestic cup for the Reds.

Mikel Arteta lamented Arsenal’s inefficiency in front of goal compared to Newcastle and Alexander Isak, but backed his players to turn around the 2-0 Carabao Cup deficit – so long as they adapt to the “tricky” ball being used in the competition.

The EFL have made a statement in defence of the Carabao Cup match ball after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said it was “tricky”.

Carabao Cup organisers mock Mikel Arteta over match ball comments - Newcastle took a major step towards booking their place at Wembley with a brilliant 2-0 semi-final opening-leg victory.