Andy Hunter was at Anfield tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM.
Jurgen Klopp’s turn. “I’m not sure [Conor Bradley] will make it home tonight, he may fall asleep in the dressing room … what a boy, a wonderful fantastic character … a real talent, top potential, everybody loves him … it was a great game … super hard, super tough … first half we caused ourselves some problems against really compact defending … no fluidity … we had to change that … in the second half they had big counter-attacking chances so we had to reorganise protection … but then we scored and it was fine … it was not our best game … but we are human beings … it was too slow and we had to change that … in the second half it was a proper all-round Liverpool performance … it is half-time, good, now we go there … we need a really good game at Fulham and we need a result … but for now, after the press conference, I will not think of all these things!”
… and off he goes for a mid-season break.
Marco Silva speaks to Sky Sports. “It is a tough one to take … nobody can play for a final thinking it’s not going to be really hard … we did really well first half … more low than normal, our block, it’s true but we controlled well almost everything … the second half was slightly different … when you have the capacity to go to the bench for Nunez and Gakpo, in that moment they started to create more problems … even so we had some good counter attacks and chances … being more ruthless, that was our moment to create a different scenario … the 1-1 was a lucky moment for Liverpool … we had to be smart enough to pause the game … more clever … but we conceded a second goal … even so, we are going to play at home and go for it, for sure … with our fans at home it will be a great night for Fulham.”
Cody Gakpo talks to Sky. “It’s the mentality in the group, the club, the city … everybody has the mentality to keep going, no matter what happens … if you have that mentality, a lot of beautiful things can happen … it’s only the first leg and we have to keep going.”
That’s a result Fulham would have taken before kick-off; it’s a result Liverpool would have taken after an hour. But as it is, you suspect neither team will be wholly satisfied after the full-time whistle. Liverpool will feel they could and should have scored more once they turned the match around with that quick-fire double whammy, so dominant were they during the closing stages; Fulham by contrast had chances to make it 2-0 and perhaps even 3-0 just before the hosts staged their comeback. So there’s plenty of what-could-have-been left out there on the pitch. And that, dear reader, sets up what could be a delicious second leg at Craven Cottage in a fortnight’s time. Both teams will very much fancy their chances. Looking forward to it!
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FULL TIME: Liverpool 2-1 Fulham
The whistle goes, and Jurgen Klopp smiles widely with relief. He embraces Marco Silva, who doesn’t look quite so pleased.
90 min +4: Wilson’s dismal delivery fails to beat the first man. What a waste.
90 min +3: Robinson goes over Bradley’s leg, out on the left flank. A chance for Fulham to load Liverpool’s box. One last twist?
90 min +1: Wilson is booked for gently rugby tackling Diaz.
90 min: There will be four added minutes.
89 min: Liverpool are pressing hard for a third goal that would change the complexion of the second leg. Gomez wins the ball in the middle of the park and sends Nunez scampering down the left. Nunez can’t find anyone with his low cross. The ball breaks back to Gomez, and the Kop encourage him to shoot. He doesn’t. It would have been a fairytale.
88 min: Jota scoops a pass down the right for Bradley, who rolls across to tee up Nunez. He must score … and doesn’t do too much wrong, steering towards the bottom right from six yards. But Leno, going the wrong way, hangs out a leg to kick clear. What a save!
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87 min: Lukic is booked for a late clip on Nunez.
86 min: Nothing comes of it.
85 min: Bradley rolls a pass down the right for Nunez, who hooks a cross into the mixer. Castagne is forced to head behind for a corner. Mac Allister to take from the left.
83 min: Lukic comes on for Reed at last. Then Nunez takes a whack from an extremely tight angle on the right, forcing a strong-armed save from Leno. Nearly a sensational strike. He might not be particularly clinical, but the man’s box-office, you have to give him that.
82 min: Cairney launches a free kick into the Liverpool box from the left. Tosin steers it back across goal. Jimenez shanks woefully wide right from a couple of yards (!) but his blushes are spared when the flag correctly goes up for offside.
81 min: Reed looks kaput at last. He stares at his bench shaking his head. Lukic prepares to come on, though Reed will have to battle on for now.
79 min: Gakpo curls in from the right. Nunez rises and powers a fine header towards the top right from the edge of the box. Leno turns it out for a corner. Great play all round.
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78 min: On the touchline, Marco Silva fumes at Cairney’s inability to get a cross into the Liverpool box. He was absolutely livid when Decordova-Reid shot instead of teeing up Pereira. You’d pay cash money to hear his post-match team-talk if Fulham aren’t able to turn this around.
76 min: Jota dances in from the right and makes enough space to shoot from the edge of the D. He pearls a rising effort towards the top-left corner. Over the bar. Leno probably had it covered anyway.
75 min: Nunez fancies the free kick. He looks determined. A power stance. The Kop serenade him. It’s all set up for … a dismal floater that sails over the bar.
74 min: Bradley, who has been extremely impressive tonight, one-twos his way in from the right flank and goes over Decordova-Reid’s hanging leg. A free kick just to the right of the Fulham D.
72 min: Fulham respond with a double change. Tom Cairney and former Liverpool winger Harry Wilson come on for Willian and Pereira.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Fulham (Gakpo 71)
Liverpool swarm Fulham and pour forward again. Nunez is pinged into the box down the left by Jota. Nunez flips a low cross towards Gakpo, on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box. Gakpo flicks into the bottom left, and what a turnaround!
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70 min: Liverpool had been pressing for that equaliser, though it didn’t really feel like it was coming. But suddenly Liverpool have some added spring in their step, and the home fans are making noise again. Speaking of which …
GOAL! Liverpool 1-1 Fulham (Jones 68)
The Kop aren’t groaning now! Jota snaffles possession in the midfield. He lays off to Jones, who aims for the top left from 25 yards. The ball pings off Tosin’s back and into the top right, past a rooted, wrong-footed Leno. So unfortunate for Fulham!
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67 min: Third time lucky for Mac Allister with a dead ball. It’s a corner on the left. The ball is returned to him and he sends a dipping shot towards the top right. Leno tips over, and the next corner is a waste of time. A few groans from the Kop this time.
66 min: Nope. In fact, this one’s even worse, failing to miss the first man Robinson, who heads down onto his own arm before clearing. Liverpool want a penalty but they’re not getting one.
65 min: Bradley nutmegs Palhinha down the right and is brought down for his cheek. A free kick just outside the box. Can Mac Allister do any better this time?
64 min: Diaz is felled by Decordova-Reid to the left of the Fulham D. Mac Allister sends a harmless free kick straight into the arms of Leno. The Kop suck their teeth in unison.
63 min: Decordova-Reid is once more sent scampering into acres down the right. He enters the box. If he rolls a pass across to Pereira, it’s a tap-in and 0-2 … but he elects to shoot instead. Kelleher blocks, and the rebound falls kindly for Liverpool, ie. nowhere near Pereira. Liverpool are walking a tightrope here. Strange for them to be going for broke with four attackers so early, given there’s still the best part of 30 minutes plus another leg to play!
62 min: Liverpool are all over the shop at the back, and Willian dinks a pass over their ragged back line to release Decordova-Reid, who should tear clear towards the box … but leaves the ball behind. Attack over.
60 min: Decordova-Reid jinks his way down the right and crosses for Jimenez, who stands and waits for the ball, allowing Konate to again intercept and spoil a very promising position for Fulham. From the resulting corner, Jimenez attempts to make good with a rabona cross. Nope! Full marks for ambition, but that’s a goal kick. “Nunez, Havertz, Werner,” sniffs Jeff Sax. “Never has so much been paid for so little.”
58 min: Pereira has an opportunity to ping a reverse pass down the inside-left channel to release Willian. Konate reads the danger and intercepts brilliantly. Willian would have been clear on goal.
56 min: Nunez and Gakpo come on for Elliott and Gravenberch. When the game restarts, Jimenez races clear down the left. Konate does extremely well to catch up and hold him up. Jimenez crosses low for Decordova-Reid but Gomez whips clear.
55 min: Jota sashays in from the left, one-twos with Gravenberch and … should immediately shoot, but takes a couple more touches before eventually having a go. That hesitation allows Robinson to extend a leg to block.
54 min: Elliott spins into space in the middle of the park and nearly releases Diaz down the left channel with a sliderule pass. Not quite, and Fulham shut the door. But this is better from Liverpool. Not a whole lot better, but they’ve not exactly set themselves high standards tonight.
52 min: Pereira goes down clutching his back. The referee senses clock management, and calls for the physio. Pereira bounces up immediately, but the referee sends him to the touchline for 30 seconds. Frustration all round.
51 min: Elliott’s sheer presence forces Willian into clanking carelessly behind for a corner. It’s sent in from the right. Jones cuts in from the left and shoots. Easy for Leno.
50 min: Elliott shoots from the best part of 30 yards. The effort deflects to Jota, who can’t sort his feet out, 12 yards from goal. Castagne is able to come across and block brilliantly. Liverpool have moved up a gear, if nothing else.
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49 min: Pereira has the opportunity to release Decordova-Reid into acres down the right, but doesn’t spot his man. He gets his pocket picked, and Fulham very nearly pay dearly, Gravenberch chopping this way and that down the middle before dragging a shot wide left. It could have been 0-2; it could have been 1-1.
47 min: Gravenberch takes a loose touch near the Fulham box, but battles to win the ball back before sending a bobbler towards the bottom right. Easy for Leno. Already the sense of intense frustration around Anfield is palpable, and we’re only two minutes into the second half.
Liverpool get the second half underway. No changes. Reed looks to have got over his dead leg and is fine to continue.
Half-time postbag. “Liverpool’s midfield has been poor. Mac Allister, who was so dynamic before his injury, is now a distinct downgrade on Wataru Endo. Curtis Jones, generally an accelerant, has had no fire to work with. And to be honest, I keep forgetting Gravenberch is at Liverpool, even when he’s on the field. It’s strange to see a Klopp midfield be that listless” – Kári Tulinius
“I get that Gomez has the defensive ability to fill in at left back, but he is so right-footed that he is woeful in attack. Reinforcements during January, please!” – Joe Pearson
“If Klopp can’t get Mo out of his players today, the poor folks within earshot of grumpy Liverpool fans aren’t going to hear the Endo of it” – Peter Oh
“And breathe…” – Richard Hirst
Worrying scenes for Fulham just before the break, incidentally. Reed really felt the impact of Kelleher’s knee on his thigh as the pair fairly contested that throw, which was bouncing loose. As everyone else walked off for half time, he stayed down, and took a while to get up before hobbling slowly off the pitch, effing and jeffing in pain. A dead leg, maybe. On Sky, pundit Steve Sidwell points out that you really need to keep moving after a clatter like that, so 15 minutes in the changing room isn’t exactly ideal. Let’s see if he comes back out. It’ll be a blow for Fulham if he doesn’t, because he’s been one of Fulham’s best players, which is saying something because the bar for that has been set high tonight.
Half-time entertainment. What Liverpool would give for the return of Salah right now, eh.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 0-1 Fulham
A thoroughly deserved lead for Fulham. Liverpool turned things around against the same opponents in the Premier League last month … but there’s no Trent Alexander-Arnold or Wataru Endo around to perform their heroics tonight.
45 min +3: Fulham fling the throw in from the left. It bounces through to Kelleher, who claims and bumps into Reed. The Fulham player stays down, while Liverpool counter. Gomez, of all people, rasps a decent long-range effort inches wide of the bottom left, though Leno had it covered.
45 min +2: Kelleher races out of his goal to deal with a long pass. He’s pressured by Reed, and his pass puts Konate in a spot of bother, with Pereira closing in. Konate knocks out for a throw, just in time. Liverpool really need the whistle, and an opportunity to regroup. The collective noggin has gone.
45 min: Van Dijk seethes over the award of a common-or-garden free kick. He could do with hearing the half-time whistle, which is coming along after three additional minutes.
44 min: Pereira pelts a shot straight at Kelleher. Easy for the keeper, but Fulham continue to make chances.
43 min: Leno takes a while over a goal kick. Not for the first time, either. He may be testing the referee’s patience. Meanwhile on the touchline, Klopp continues to shake his head in hot fury.
42 min: Mac Allister is manhandled as he plays the ball towards Diaz, who spins into space. Liverpool’s attack is stopped as the referee whistles late for a free kick. Klopp is beyond livid and hops around in the Riverdance style. The referee offers a sheepish hand of apology. “You have to take your hat off to Fulham’s recruitment strategy,” writes Charles Antaki. “They’ve found a new player who shares a name with the Willian of old, but this one is astonishingly quick, subtle, hard-working and effective. What a goal! Hopefully Arsenal are looking on and can snap him up before the window closes.”
40 min: Jota tries to play a wall pass off Diaz, who falls over. The ball trickles through to Leno, who waits awhile to pick up, forcing Jota to sprint in to hurry him up. The clock-management grift annoys the Liverpool fans, which is the whole point. Fulham’s gameplan working perfectly.
38 min: Robinson tears down the left before looping in a cross from the byline. The ball drops to Decordova-Reid, momentarily alone on the penalty spot. He declines to shoot first time, and it costs him, Diaz racing in to whip the ball off his toe and out for a corner. Nothing comes of the resulting set-piece.
37 min: Mac Allister bashes the free kick witlessly into the Fulham wall.
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36 min: Leno and Willian half-clear the corner, but Jota picks up possession to the right of the D and draws a clumsy foul from Jimenez. This free kick is in Trent Alexander-Arnold country. Oh.
35 min: Jones makes something out of very little with a determined scuttle down the left. A corner, from which Jones shoots from a tight angle. Deflected. Another corner coming up.
34 min: Fulham are pressing tenaciously and Liverpool aren’t coping particularly well with it. Anfield very quiet now.
32 min: A replay shows Van Dijk standing on Jimenez’s foot. The referee saw it, and waved play on to Fulham’s advantage, but the Liverpool captain, already on a booking, wants to watch himself here. Another poor challenge and he could be walking.
31 min: More of the same. Liverpool are bossing possession, but Fulham are quite happy to let them do so. The hosts extremely ponderous as they look in vain for the killer pass.
29 min: Fulham are holding their shape impressively. Liverpool can’t get anything going in the final third. No way through. The away side doing a number on their hosts right now.
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27 min: Liverpool are a bit rattled. That’s further illustrated when Gravenberch grabs the ball for a throw, but too eagerly, the ball yet to cross the line and fly out of play. Anfield not a happy place right now, with the exception of one corner of the stadium of course.
26 min: Willian floats the resulting free kick into the Liverpool box. Tosin wins a header on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box and sends the ball across the face of goal. Kelleher is allowed to gather with ease, nobody in Fulham responding. That was a decent chance.
24 min: Van Dijk sticks a hand in Pereira’s face as the pair contest a loose ball. A garden-variety hand-off. Pereira twists and flips on the ground in the landed-fish fashion. Liverpool’s captain is booked, which is fair enough, but Jurgen Klopp is far from happy at Pereira’s theatrics, and makes his feelings known to the fourth official.
23 min: Here’s a worrying stat for Liverpool. Fulham’s record when scoring first this season? Eleven wins, one draw.
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22 min: Liverpool keep Fulham pinned back, though, and Jota floats a cross from the left to the far stick. Elliott hooks over from close range. His blushes are spared when the flag correctly goes up for offside.
21 min: That’s a fine finish by Willian, but Liverpool wrapped that one up with a bow. Liverpool try to come straight back at Fulham, Elliot winning a corner down the right, but nothing comes of it.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Fulham (Willian 19)
Liverpool looked uncertain in defence a minute ago; they’re even worse now. Van Dijk’s clearing header is woefully weak. Pereira, on the right-hand edge of the box, dribbles forward, then cuts back for Willian, who takes a couple of touches to the right before threading a low shot past the spinning Van Dijk and into the bottom right!
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18 min: Reed streams down the middle of the park and lays off to Pereira, who thinks about shooting from the edge of the D but instead attempts a cute pass into the box towards … well, nobody in particular. Kelleher should claim, but Konate isn’t sure whether his keeper is coming and steps across to blooter away from danger.
17 min: Liverpool have enjoyed 67 percent of possession so far. Neither keeper has seriously been tested yet.
16 min: Jota latches onto a ball dropping in the Fulham box, and bobbles a right-to-left diagonal shot away from Leno and across the face of goal. Nobody in red taking a gamble; nobody there to poke home.
15 min: Willian has the chance to release Robinson down the left, but underhits a simple pass and allows Bradley to intercept and clear. Had Willian found his man, Liverpool were in a spot of bother there.
14 min: Gomez nicks the ball off a dithering Decordova-Reid. Liverpool prepare to swarm forward, with the Fulham defence light, but the referee blows for a fairly soft free kick.
12 min: Jota brings down a long Van Dijk pass in elegant style, and races down the left flank. He checks back but there’s nobody in the middle. Gomez arrives on the overlap, and on his 200th appearance for Liverpool, shanks into the Anfield Road end. The resulting goal kick sees Leno slip and fall on his backside in the silent-movie style, much to everyone’s amusement.
10 min: A free kick for Liverpool just inside the Fulham half. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Fulham box. Elliott dinks in. The flag pops up for offside. This match hasn’t quite got going yet.
9 min: Diaz plays a sensational reverse pass down the left to release Jota into acres. He reaches the box and he’s within his right to shoot, but tries to find Elliott in the middle instead. Robinson intercepts and clears.
8 min: Elliott gently shovels a pass down the inside-right for Bradley, bombing along on the overlap. Bradley dinks into the middle, where Leno flops and smothers. A fine combination between the Liverpool youngsters.
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7 min: Castagne’s loose backpass forces Leno to come a long way out of his box to deal with the situation. Liverpool swarm the keeper, but Leno keeps his nerve and clears.
6 min: Tosin clanks a loose pass straight to Gravenberch, and suddenly Liverpool are pouring forward. Jones takes the first shot of the evening. Straight at Leno, who handles well.
5 min: Liverpool settle down and stroke it around. Probe, pass, probe. Fulham sit back waiting to intercept and counter, which they nearly do through Jimenez, who miscontrols. A pattern set?
4 min: Some boos from the away section for former Fulham starlet Harvey Elliott. It’s still technically panto season, right?
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3 min: Otherwise, it’s all a bit shapeless as both teams struggle to retain possession. The ball pinging about seemingly at random.
2 min: A couple of very early, confident touches for Trent Alexander-Arnold’s stand-in, Conor Bradley. That should help the young right-back settle.
Fulham kick off. They’re kicking towards the Kop in this first half.
The teams are out! A proper big-game atmosphere at Anfield. Anticipation crackles around all four corners of the famous old ground. Liverpool in red, Fulham in white. We’ll be off after a quick blast of Gerry and the Pacemakers. “The 1993 League Cup 5-0 win for Liverpool against Fulham was the second leg of the tie,” recalls Paul Oakes. “The first was played in torrential rain at Fulham, where we enjoyed the elements on an uncovered East Terrace. Liverpool gave a few kids a debut, and one of them even scored in Liverpool’s 3-1 win. That got him a game in the second leg as a reward, and he scored five. Wonder what happened to that Fowler lad?”
Klopp’s also asked if he’s got his wedding ring firmly wedged onto his finger this time, having briefly lost it while celebrating the 4-2 win over Newcastle on New Year’s Day. “I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, some of them twice, some of them three times. Let’s see how I do this time!”
Jurgen Klopp speaks to Sky Sports. “Conor Bradley is a good player … do we have an alternative by the way ?! [laughs] … he is really impressive … of course we trust him … we are pretty young on the bench but that’s how it is and it’s fine … we know what’s at stake … we know what it would mean for Fulham to go through so we have to make sure everyone realises it means a lot to us as well … it’s important we make a proper game of it … we played recently against Fulham and it was a wild one … I didn’t need that to know how good a team Fulham are and a manager Marco Silva is … it’s a really tough one … we have to make sure for them it is tough as well.”
Marco Silva talks to Sky. “It is one of the most difficult tests in this country for sure … we have to be at the top level to be competitive … we have two players away at the African cup and one or two injuries … we have to try to get a result that gives us a chance to decide the game at home … the goal for the competition is to go until the end … we are not favourites but we are here and we are ready to fight … the pressure is on them … we have our part to play … we are going for it.”
More on those aforementioned Fulham-Liverpool League Cup clashes of old, courtesy of Richard Hirst.
10-0? Nah, don’t remember that, far too long ago. But November 1983, that’s a different matter. Fulham, third from bottom of the then Division Two, going three matches, two with extra time, against Liverpool. 330 minutes which should have ended in Fulham’s favour: I can still see in my mind’s eye Ray Houghton, then of Fulham, not yet of Liverpool, jinking in from the left past two players, arriving in the middle of the box and ……… carrying on jinking to the right instead of shooting. My head is still in my hands.
As the late, lamented David Lacey of this parish said (of course I still have the cutting inside the programme) ‘few sides can claim to have slugged it out with Liverpool over 5 1/2 hours and emerged beaten but looking fresher and with any number of reasons why the result might have gone the other way’. Yes it was failure, but glorious, which is all supporters of most clubs can hope for. But tonight might, just might, be different. COYW.
Liverpool make five changes to the XI that started the 2-0 FA Cup win at Arsenal. Caoimhín Kelleher, Virgil van Dijk, Diogo Jota, Ryan Gravenberch and Conor Bradley replace Alisson, Jarell Quansah, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo, who are benched, and the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Fulham also make five changes from their FA Cup starting selection, in the wake of their 1-0 win over Rotherham United. Bernd Leno, Antonee Robinson, João Palhinha, Willian and Raúl Jiménez return; Marek Rodák, Kenny Tete, Harry Wilson, Saša Lukić and Rodrigo Muniz all drop to the bench.
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The teams
Liverpool: Kelleher, Gomez, Konate, van Dijk, Bradley, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Diaz.
Subs: Alisson, Nunez, Gakpo, Clark, Gordon, McConnell, Quansah, Nyoni, Beck.
Fulham: Leno, Castagne, Adarabioyo, Diop, Robinson, Reed, Joao Palhinha, De Cordova-Reid, Andreas Pereira, Willian, Jimenez.
Subs: Rodak, Tete, Wilson, Cairney, Ream, Rodrigo Muniz, Lukic, Vinicius, Francois.
Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire).
The Reds to take on Fulham in the #CarabaoCup semi-final first leg 📋#LIVFUL
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 10, 2024
Our @Carabao_Cup Semi-Final XI! 🚨#LIVFUL pic.twitter.com/pDwTRA6FYC
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) January 10, 2024
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Preamble
Liverpool and Fulham have drawn each other in the League Cup on five previous occasions. It’s not gone well for the Cottagers: they’ve lost every single tie. Most infamously, they shipped ten goals at Anfield in the second round in 1986; they were also on the end of a 5-0 shellacking in 1993, and 3-1 and 3-0 defeats in 1998 and 2000, the last time the clubs met in this competition.
It was close in 1983, mind. Malcolm Macdonald’s second-tier side took Joe Fagan’s team – one destined to win the competition, plus the league and European Cup to boot – to two replays, the last one only settled in the 116th minute by Graeme Souness. That’s surely the historical mark that will give Fulham succour as they embark on their first-ever League Cup semi-final. Throw in their recent form against the Reds – one win and two draws in their last five meetings; Liverpool requiring four worldies to win by the odd goal last month – and this two-legged tie should be much closer than it may look at first glance on paper. Kick off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
